Remember When
by Strix 4
Summary: A year after the final graduation, the Host Club reassembles after the typical college loss of contact. Old memories are shared over cups of commoner's coffee. Which friendships will be rekindled...and which relationships will be changed forever?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is the beginning of my first multi-chapter continuation piece. It takes place two years after Tamaki's graduation from Ouran, which means that Tamaki and Kyoya are sophomores in college, Mori and Hunni are juniors, and Haruhi and the twins are freshman. The Ouran gang reassembles after almost three years. They reminisce about the old days, which means that the majority of this story will be told through flashbacks (which will be properly identified...don't worry!). What crazy adventures did the Host Club have that we didn't see? And what relationships will change because of the telling? _

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. It belongs to Bisco Hatori._

**Royal Summons**

It was the time of night seen only by the restless minds. Everything was still and silent outside, save for the snow falling gently in the streetlight beams. The only noise came from the relentless tapping of a pencil against a wooden desk. The culprit of the tapping was barely aware of the action; he was staring out the window instead. The disconnect in his violet eyes suggested that he was seeing things far beyond the walls around him.

This was Tamaki's second favorite time to be awake. Second favorite, because he much preferred the daylight hours, which were filled with talking and laughing and always things to _do. _But this quiet time had its own merits. As much as he loved being surrounded by people, his breeding made it impossible for him to be anything other than unfailingly polite and always proper. When he was alone like this, in the dark and in the quiet, he could be whoever he wanted. Pretending had always been one of his favorite past times. As a child, a sickly mother and a lack of suitable friends had cut him off from the rowdy games. And then his rank and family position had been forced on him like a suit already sewn, one that didn't quite fit him right but still forced him to stand a certain way. Only in his dreams was he able to shuck his obligations and try on different skins.

Well, back then it had only been in his dreams and now it was the same. But there had been a time, a brief and shining period in his life, where he had been allowed to take his most ridiculous daydreams and make them manifest.

Smiling now, Tamaki looked at his desk. It was cluttered; papers hung haphazardly out of half-open drawers, teddy bear pencils crowded the surface. And two photographs, set in polished silver frames, held spots of honor on the upper shelf. One was of his mother, a beautiful blonde woman that he hadn't seen in years. The other was of his family, or the closest thing he'd ever had to it.

They hadn't asked him to be something he wasn't. And they'd never scorned his desire to be someone else, to escape his confinement by creating different characters. In fact, they'd allowed him to tug them into his fantasy world. It was a more beautiful place, and the pretending was so much more fun, when he wasn't alone there.

Tamaki studied the six familiar figures in the photograph. Each face brought down a tidal wave of warm emotion and fond memories. Some of them he saw at a fairly steady pace, when he was home from the University. Others he hadn't seen, not for a long while. His smile faded as he considered it.

How could he have let them drift apart like that? Unacceptable. Family was _family_, after all.

His smile returning, Tamaki booted up his laptop. He dashed off a single email, one with six recipients. After it was sent, he took down the photograph and cradled it in his hands. With his long musician's fingers, he traced the faces that had once shaped his life. Maybe they could shape it again, given the opportunity.

He wasn't going to let his family break apart so easily.

* * *

A few miles away, in the medical branch's private housing of the same University that Tamaki attended, another man was awake and admiring the snowfall. His computer was up and warm from running, and a cup of coffee sat on his ruthlessly organized desk. The nighttime hours were always his most productive. It was amazing what you could accomplish while your rivals were wasting time with sleep.

His computer chimed once, signifying that he had a new email waiting in his inbox. Mildly curious as to who would be writing him at such a ridiculous hour, he opened it. Moments later, he was struggling against a smile as he read.

Of course. Who else but the idiot?

Pushing his glasses up his nose, he typed a quick response.

_Tamaki. It's three-thirty in the morning. You have class at eight._

_Moron. _

He hit send without signing it. Tamaki would know who it was from. Picking up his ever-present black book, he reread Tamaki's email and jotted down a new note-a place and time.

"Well," Kyoya said, balancing his notebook on his knee as he reached for his coffee cup. "This will be interesting."

* * *

Much further away, in a private dojo hidden in the mountains of Japan, another man blinked at the sudden sound coming from the computer. He eyed the bright pink laptop with mild distrust; he'd never been fully comfortable with technology more advanced than a phone.

He was pretty sure that the sound meant that Mitsukuni had a message of some sort. But the boy was sleeping soundly, swaddled in a nest of pink blankets with Usa-chan tucked securely under one arm. He could try to wake him up, but Mitsukuni was dangerous when roused prematurely. And if he woke him up now, at half past three in the morning, Mitsukuni would figure out that the taller boy had been guarding him in his sleep again. Mitsukuni hated it when he did that; but the desire the keep the blonde safe outweighed his desire to keep him happy.

With a resigned sigh, Mori poked carefully at the computer keys. For a moment, the screen went black, causing Mori to go into a straight-faced panic. Then, a document popped out. Mori read it through, and his lips quirked, the closest he ever got to a full-blown smile.

He'd tell Mitsukuni in the morning. The smaller boy would be ecstatic to hear from an old friend.

And Mori, who understood Mitsukuni almost better than he understood himself, already knew what the boy's response would be.

* * *

In one giant bed on the other side of Japan, the loud noises that issued from the identical black laptops were greeted by a chorus of sleepy grumbles and complaints.

"Hikaru, is that your phone again? Shut if off!"

"It's not my phone. It's my computer, and yours too."

"I don't care what it is. Just shut if off."

"Is someone getting snappy? Are we going to have to have penalty game later?"

"Ugh."

"All right, all right. I'm shutting it off. Spoilsport."

From beneath the tangled bedcovers, a face appeared, golden eyes narrowed in extreme annoyance. Hikaru stumbled off the mattress, pushing his fingers through his tangled hair, while Kaoru took his pillow and smashed it over his face.

"We've got mail," Hikaru said, blinking owlishly at the screens. "Who the hell would be emailing us both at this time of night?"

Kaoru's only answer was a muffled groan as he continued his best efforts to suffocate himself with his pillow.

Idly, Hikaru clicked on his inbox. But the lack of interest in his eyes died as he read the message waiting for him.

"Kaoru! Come here!"

Kaoru heaved a giant sigh, but he dutifully flung his pillow away. He got out of bed because it was Hikaru that told him to. That was how they worked.

"What is it?" he asked, propping his chin on Hikaru's shoulder so that he could see.

"An old friend," Hikaru murmured, his trademark smirk curving his lips. "How perfect! Just when things were starting to get dull…"

* * *

In a badly lit and often drafty University library, another unsuspecting person was pulled from sleep by the relentless beep of the computer. Haruhi blinked herself awake, and wondered why her face was so sore. She realized after a moment of confusion that the perpetrator was the stack of books she'd been using as an impromptu pillow.

Yawning, Haruhi looked over at the clock. Hell, it was after midnight again. The librarians hated it when students fell asleep in the stacks. She'd have to book it out of there before they found her. But it was going to be hard to sneak out if her computer was beeping like an alarm clock.

Haruhi leaned over and tapped at the second-hand laptop that she'd taken on a secret part-time job to afford. It wasn't very pretty, but it was sturdy and it hardly ever crashed.

She frowned for a moment at the unfamiliar email address, and then opened it with a shrug.

Her brown eyes were the size of dinner plates by the time she finished reading.

"Oh, come on. You have got to be kidding me."

Haruhi groaned, and reconsidered her decision to sneak out of the library. If the librarians caught her, then she'd be dead, and she'd have the perfect reason for not being there.

* * *

_Greetings Mes Amis! _

_It occurred to me tonight in a moment of brilliance that the Host Club has not assembled in its entirety since the graduation of your beloved king. Of course, I immediately concluded that this grievous blunder must be rectified, as soon as possible! To think that some of you have been without my magnificent presence for almost a whole year…I shudder to think of the horrible pains you must be suffering without my countenance to look upon. Therefore, I am issuing a direct order that all members of the Host Club come to the commoner's coffee shop by Haruhi's old apartment at seven o'clock of December 21st__, at the start of Christmas break. Those that fail to appear will find themselves to be targets of a kidnapping conspiracy. _

_A bientot, my darlings!_

_Daddy_

* * *

**_A/N: In the next chapter, the gang gets together again. Who got fat, who got old, and who got ugly? Just kidding! And who's still mooning over our favorite brown-eyed girl? Stay tuned to find out!_**

**Just for clarification:**

**'Mes Amis' means 'My Friends'**

**And 'A bientot' means 'See you soon'  
**


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thanks to everyone that reviewed... I really appreciate your support. Enjoy the upload!_

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori.  
_

**Neverland**

"Why is she always late?"

Hikaru sulked into his coffee cup and kept one eye on the door. Seeing the boys again, and getting gushed over by Tamaki, was fun, but to be honest, they weren't the real reason why he was here, as much as he enjoyed them all.

Under the table, Kaoru snuck a sympathetic hand into his twin's, and gave the fingers a supportive squeeze.

Outwardly, he observed; "You'd think that it would be easy for someone so smart to master the concept of being on time."

"Tama-chan, you're shaking the table," Hunni complained, kicking his feet.

Tamaki's fingers were locked in a death grip on the edge of the table. His entire body was vibrating with force of his worry, and so the table was indeed trembling.

"Something must have happened!" Tamaki cried. "Haruhi must have been kidnapped off the street by bandits! She's probably being sold into slavery as we speak. We have to go and rescue her!"

Tamaki jumped to his feet, only to ram into the fist Kyoya had been holding over his head.

"Haruhi's plane only arrived a little over an hour ago," Kyoya said, while Tamaki slumped over in his seat, dazed. "And it's a forty minute drive to her apartment from the airport. I'm sure she'll be here shortly."

"Are you sure?" Tamaki asked, clinging to the hand Kyoya had clubbed him with.

Kyoya gave his arm a brisk shake, dislodging the blonde.

"Aren't I always right?" he asked, before retreating back to his little black book.

"You're always right because you always fix the situation," Hikaru pointed out.

"Yeah, so you always know the outcome," Kaoru added.

Kyoya didn't look up from his notes, but a small half-smile did curl his lips. It was sinister by its very nature, and brought frightened tears to Hunni's eyes.

"I see no problem with that."

Hunni tugged desperately on Mori's arm, who was watching the scene unfold through his trademark blank stare.

"Takashi, make him stop! He's scaring me!"

One of the coffee shop waitresses hustled over to their table. She was a robust looking woman, with hair the color of steel scraped back into a bun. She planted her hands on her ample hips as she observed. She saw a young boy clinging to what was obviously his older brother, and wailing loud enough to wake the dead. She saw a young man scribbling serenely into a notebook, and a blonde boy draped over the table like it was his deathbed.

And the twins. They weren't doing anything particularly incriminating, but she trusted them the least.

"Now cut it out, all of you," she said firmly. "You boys are causing a scene, and upsetting the other customers. If you can't keep it down, I'll have to ask you to leave."

Tamaki was up and off the table in record time. Before the waitress had any time to react, he was down on one knee in front of her, holding her hands and beaming bright lavender eyes in her direction.

"Madam, I apologize, sincerely, for our behavior. It's inexcusable, beyond reproach! How very kind you are, and how lovely of you, to take it upon yourself to remind us of our manners." Those brilliant eyes brimmed with tears. "Oh, say you'll forgive us, my princess! Otherwise the shame will drive me to everlasting torment and despair!"

The waitress flushed bright red, and the expression on her face was reminiscent of someone who had just walked straight into a wall.

"I…I forgive you," she breathed.

Tamaki's face brightened impossibly.

"Such generosity! It's so stirring, so incredibly awe-inspiring!" Tamaki's voice dropped, became an adoring whisper. "My princess, you've moved my very soul ."

Haruhi walked into the coffee shop just in time to see Tamaki press a kiss to the back of some woman's hand. Kyoya watched, while simultaneously recording the event in his black book. Hunni grinned around the piece of cake he was stuffing in his mouth. Mori watched Hunni instead of Tamaki. Hikaru and Kaoru watched the scene with an air of great amusement, their mouths curled into identical smirks.

Though Haruhi knew she was standing still, she felt like she was spinning, falling back in time. How were they all so impossibly the same? It had been a year since she'd seen Hikaru and Kaoru, and more than that since she'd seen the others. Hadn't they changed at all?

Haruhi felt like she was seeing things through a silver bubble. From the bubble's vantage point, time hadn't moved forward, she was still a student at Ouran Academy, and her life at University was nothing more than an elaborate daydream.

She reached down to adjust her blue Ouran jacket. But she wasn't wearing a sleek linen suit that cost more than her apartment. Her slender frame was hidden behind a baggy red sweater and jeans.

The bubble popped with an audible snap, and suddenly Haruhi could see things without the silver haze of memory. There were differences. All the boys had filled out some; they were no longer the slender and graceful flower stems she had known. Mori in particular had wider shoulders, and so his height no longer made him appear lanky. The twins had grown their hair out, almost as long as Tamaki's. Hunni looked just as sweet as ever, but his pink bunny was nowhere in sight.

"HARU-CHAN!"

Even though she instinctively braced for it, Haruhi was still almost bowled over by Hunni's affectionate attack. He wrapped his arms around her middle and nearly knocked her off her feet.

"Hunni-sempai," she managed, once she got her breath back.

Hunni's smile was so big that rainbows practically reflected off of his teeth.

"Haru-chan, we've been waiting forever and ever! Tama-chan said you'd been sold into slavery, and I got bored so I had three whole pieces of cake!"

"Where's Usa-chan, Hunni-sempai?" Haruhi asked, trying to wrap her brain around the older boy's babbling.

Hunni's mouth puckered into an adorable pout.

"Takashi won't let me take him outside anymore," he said. "He says its not appropriate."

He shot a quick glance at Mori, who sipped his coffee and gave Hunni a bland look.

"So I left him," Hunni continued, turning gigantic brown eyes back in Haruhi's direction. "But he's waiting for me at home! He'll be sad when I tell him that you were here, and he didn't get to see you."

Haruhi couldn't control the affectionate smile. Of all the hosts, she'd always been arguably the most susceptible to Hunni's type of charm.

Hunni released her, spinning back to the table to finish his fourth piece of cake. Haruhi braced herself once again, expecting a second rib-crushing tackle hug. But it never came. Tamaki stayed where he was. The only weight she felt from him came from his eyes; his eyes all but devoured her.

"Haruhi," he said, and his smile was filled with quiet joy. "It's so wonderful to see you again. Please, come sit."

Thrown, Haruhi blinked a few times before finally remembering to move her feet. Even back in high school, her mind blanked every time Tamaki turned gentleman on her.

"Haruhi, it's been too long," Kyoya said, shutting his notebook with a snap. "How is the University treating you?"

Politeness from Kyoya? Since when?

"Ah…fine," Haruhi said.

"Would you like some coffee?"

At once, Haruhi said; "I can get it." She knew better than to let Kyoya buy things for her, even after all this time. She ordered from the waitress that Tamaki had been romancing, and the woman wobbled away on still-unsteady legs to fill it.

Silence ruled the table. Cheeks burning, Haruhi dropped her gaze to the table, and traced a finger over the scarred wood. She could feel their eyes on her; all of them. They were looking at her with such intensity that they were practically burning holes in her forehead.

Finally, unable to stand it, Haruhi turned to the tallest member of the group and tried a smile.

"Mori-sempai, you haven't changed a bit."

Mori's mouth twitched, the closest it ever came to expressing anything. To really see Mori's smile, you had to watch his eyes. They were beaming now, bright with joy. He brought one hand down on top of Haruhi's head, a habit from their high school days.

Hikaru scowled and planted his elbows on the table, leaning across it a little to get Haruhi's attention.

"Haruhi, what the hell are you wearing?" he asked.

"Yeah, didn't we teach you anything?" Kaoru added.

Haruhi blinked at the twins.

"What?" she asked, and looked down at her loose-fitting sweater. "It's comfortable."

"You're hopeless," the twins sighed.

Haruhi smiled at them.

"I guess you guys haven't changed either."

"Your hair is longer," Tamaki said quietly. "You don't look like a boy anymore, Haruhi."

Haruhi blushed, and gave her stubby ponytail a self-conscious tug. It could barely be called longer, her hair had grown no more than two inches from the last time they'd seen her.

"I usually cut it pretty regularly," she said. "But I've been so busy lately, I just forgot."

"Oh."

Silence fell once again. Haruhi's coffee was served, and she twirled the cup between her hands, dropping her eyes back to the table. None of them knew what to say to her. She was beautiful to each and every one of them; impossibly so. Their agile, silver-coated tongues were absolutely frozen in her presence.

Kaoru saw it, their desperate need to talk to her, to impress her, to see her smile, warring with their self-consciousness. Kaoru usually saw these things, even if he never admitted it out loud.

They weren't a part of each other's lives anymore, not like they used to be, anyway. That was the real reason none of them could speak. They didn't _know_ Haruhi like they had before. All they had were memories.

But memories had power. They could be used to build new bridges, and to bring about new bonds. Kaoru smiled.

"Haruhi, do you remember when you brought us to this coffee shop for the first time?"

* * *

_A/N: Flashbacks start in the next chapter. Since the story will be flipping back and forth between them, and 'real time', I'll make sure to properly identify so as to avoid confusion. Hope you enjoyed, and happy reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Flashback time! All forays into the past are posted in italics. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed/favorited this story. You guys rock!_

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori.  
_

**Of Coffee and Kidnapping**

"Haruhi, do you remember when you brought us to this coffee shop for the first time?"

Haruhi blinked at Kaoru's question.

"The first time?" she repeated slowly. Her huge brown eyes drifted a little as she sorted through her memories. "Sure. You guys kidnapped me."

"We did not!" Hikaru protested.

Haruhi gave him a small smile.

"Yes, you did. You guys kidnapped me all the time back then. Especially you, Tamaki-sempai."

Across the table, a light blush colored Tamaki's cheeks.

"I wouldn't call it kidnapping," Kyoya said, taking a small sip from his coffee cup. "It was more…enforced and involuntary participation."

Haruhi's serious smile grew a little.

"Well, whatever you guys called it, you definitely used it that day."

* * *

_The pounding on the door was far too cheerful for such an ungodly hour. Everyone in the apartment complex heard it, and offered up a few choice swearwords that they muffled with their pillows. What kind of idiot tried to bang a door down so early on a Saturday morning?_

_The idiot in question seemed completely oblivious to the noise he was making, as well as the dark looks being cast at his back. His friends were still irritated enough at being pulled from bed by relentless phone calls to find his exuberance positively revolting._

"_Boss, maybe you should ease up a little."_

"_Yeah, Haruhi's dad isn't that fond of you already. Waking him up might not be the best way to win him over."_

_Tamaki stopped pounding and turned to glare at the twins. Their golden eyes were still heavy with sleep, and they were leaning against each other, as if afraid they'd fall over without the support. _

"_What do you two know?" he snapped. "I'm sure Haruhi's father loves me! How could he not, when I take such good care of our little girl!"_

_Too tired to argue, the twins shrugged, before letting out identical jaw-cracking yawns and further slumping against each other. _

_The door opened slowly, and Haruhi's big brown eyes peeked around the edge. They widened when she saw who stood on the other side._

"_Tamaki-sempai?" she whispered around the wooden panels. "What are you guys doing here?"_

"_I have an idea!" Tamaki proclaimed. He frowned as Haruhi made no move to open the door. "Aren't you going to invite us in? Don't you want to hear my idea?"_

"_It's a little early, Sempai."_

_Tamaki's purple eyes dilated, and a small seizure seemed to travel up his spine._

"_Haruhi…," he gasped. "Are you in your pajamas?"_

_Tamaki's nose threatened to bleed as images of Haruhi in flannel bunny-print sleep shirts, and Haruhi in boxer shorts and tank tops, and Haruhi in silky lace nightgowns began to dance before his mind's eye. He clasped his hands together and reverence filled his eyes with stars._

"_What?" Haruhi whispered. "Oh. No, I'm not." She opened the door a little, revealing jeans and a loose-fitting shirt the color of tangerines. "I've been up for a while. I like to get an early start on my weekend chores."_

_In less than three seconds, Tamaki was curled up in the corner, his face pressed against the wall of the apartment complex and his knees drawn up to his chest. Far too used to Tamaki's tantrums to be startled by the speed of it, Haruhi shook her head and redirected her attention._

"_What's going on?" she asked, to the twins this time._

_Hikaru yawned again and blinked sleepy eyes in Haruhi's direction._

"_No idea. The boss called us earlier this morning."_

"_He said there was something he wanted to do," Kaoru added, as he rested his head against Hikaru's. _

"_He called all of you?"_

_Haruhi stuck her head further out the door. A little ways down, Mori stood, straight and tall and, as his face was as impassive as ever, apparently untouched by fatigue. Hunni rested on his shoulders, and the shorter boy wasn't even attempting to stay awake. He was using Mori's head as a pillow, and dozing with Usa-chan under his arm. Even further down, Kyoya leaned against a wall. His arms were tightly crossed, and his mouth was pressed into a thin line._

_Haruhi blinked._

"_Um…is Kyoya-sempai…glowing?" she asked. "Sort of throwing off waves of darkness and despair?"_

"_Ah," Hikaru said, a little nervously. "I wouldn't try to talk to Kyoya-sempai yet, or look him in the eye, or anything like that."_

"_He's still a little mad at the Boss for waking him up," Kaoru said. _

_Haruhi recoiled, and briefly considered slamming the door shut. She didn't have much experience with the monster that was Kyoya in the morning, but one particular day, the day of the Product Expo, was still burned into her brain. _

"_Tamaki-sempai woke Kyoya-sempai up?" she repeated. "On a Saturday morning? What, is he crazy?"_

"_I'm not crazy," Tamaki said, his voice muffled by the wall he was pressed against. "Daddy just wanted to spend a little time with his family today." Tamaki turned his head and aimed lavender eyes, eyes three times their normal size and glistening with tears, in Haruhi's direction. "Is that so wrong?"_

_Haruhi blinked, then grimaced. She could never say no to those eyes, and he knew it._

"_So, what's this big idea of yours, Sempai?" she asked with a sigh._

_In a flash, Tamaki was dry-eyed and on his feet, his arms extended. The twins were just awake enough to avoid getting smacked in the face._

"_I'm so glad you asked!" Tamaki cradled his chin with his fingers. "I was getting my coffee this morning, when it occurred to me that a commoner such as yourself obviously doesn't have a servant to bring you yours. So I asked my maid where commoners went to get coffee, and she said that you go to a place called a coffee shop." Tamaki sliced a finger in Haruhi's direction. "Haruhi, you will take us to one of these coffee shops!"_

_Instantly, the twins perked up._

"_Wait, this is a field trip?" Hikaru asked. "Why didn't you say so, Boss?" _

"_We thought you just wanted to see Haruhi," Kaoru added. _

_Inside the entryway, Haruhi banged her forehead against the door._

"_You have got to be kidding me," she said. "You dragged everyone out of bed and came all the way down here on a Saturday morning so that you could visit a coffee shop?"_

_Tamaki pressed a hand to his heart and staggered back a step, as if Haruhi's words had wounded him._

"_Are you saying you don't want to go to the coffee shop?" he gasped. _

"_Well, to be honest, I'd have to say no," Haruhi said. "I've got a lot of chores to do today, and I'd rather get started."_

"_Haruhi."_

_Everyone looked away from Tamaki, who was still clutching his heart, and towards the new voice. Kyoya raised his head, and everyone froze at the positively glacial look in his eyes._

"_It's been an hour since this moron dragged me out of bed," he said. "Every minute that you spend arguing is another minute that I must be awake. It is not my wish to be here now, nor do I desire to be here later. So if this idiot wants to waste his time, and mine, by visiting a coffee shop, then let's get it over with so that I can spend the rest of my day in peace."_

_By the time Kyoya finished speaking, Tamaki, Haruhi, and the twins were cowering against the wall. _

"_He's really not a morning person, is he?" Haruhi asked, through teeth that were all but chattering from the ice behind Kyoya's words. _

"_The boss is the only one who can get him out of bed without losing a little blood," Kaoru said. Since he was hiding behind Hikaru, his words came out a little muffled. "The rest of us aren't that talented. So, stop arguing Haruhi, and let's go before you make him mad again!"_

_Haruhi eyed Kyoya, who had gone back to glowering against the wall, and considered her options. After a moment, she sighed._

"_Fine. But I have to leave a note for my dad."_

"_Is he out?" Tamaki asked. "Has my little girl been here by herself all this time?! Someone could have broken in! You could have been abducted and forced into servitude!"_

_Haruhi shook her head._

"_Don't be stupid, Sempai. He's sleeping. You know, like all the other normal people."_

"_I think she just called you weird, Boss," Hikaru said as Haruhi disappeared inside the house._

_Tamaki turned on Hikaru, his violet eyes ablaze._

"_Shut up! It is perfectly natural for a father to worry about his little girl!"_

_The twins shrugged._

"_Whatever you say."_

_Haruhi came back out a few minutes later, wearing shoes and carrying her purse. She closed the door quietly behind her._

"_There's a coffee shop a couple of blocks down," she said. "Let's get this over with."_

_But even though she sounded tough, Haruhi still gave Kyoya a wide berth as she walked by. On the way to the coffee shop, she stayed at the front of the group, close to Tamaki and the twins. Kyoya brought up the rear, and the waves of doom and despair he radiated sent pedestrians scurrying to the other side of the street. _

"_Oh, how quaint!" Tamaki cried, when they finally reached the shop. "What commoners manage to do with such small spaces is simply astounding!"_

_Haruhi rolled her eyes and opened the door. _

"_Yeah. Whatever."_

"_It smells so good in here!" Hikaru exclaimed the second he stepped across the threshold. _

"_Look, Hikaru!" Kaoru exclaimed. "All the coffee cups are exactly the same. And they have the company logo stamped on them!"_

_They started to charge the counter. Haruhi reached out and snagged each of them by the wrist._

"_Hey, wait! You guys can't just run up there. You have to wait your turn."_

_Identical faces, full of bewilderment, turned in Haruhi's direction._

"_Wait?" they repeated blankly. _

_Tamaki danced over, all but vibrating with excitement._

"_Yes, I've heard of this!" he cried. "Because commoners can't afford servants of their own, they are forced to travel to places like this and wait for a handful of people to perform the same service for all of them. They call it 'waiting in line'!"_

_By this point, everyone in the coffee shop was staring. Warmth flooded Haruhi's face._

"_Kill me," she muttered._

_She managed to steer the boys through the line and to a table. Tamaki and the twins beamed at Haruhi over steaming mugs, and chattered excitedly about the alien concept of actually handing over money for service. Kyoya sat in the corner, a cup of black coffee at his elbow, and an expression on his face that promised death to the next person that dared approach him (for whatever reason, female clerks found Kyoya especially attractive when he wasn't trying to be charming-the poor girl manning the cash register was still shaking). And Mori drank his tea, which he preferred to coffee, and kept one eye on Hunni, who had gone from dozing on his shoulders to dozing on the table. _

"_They sell coffee cake here, Mori-sempai," Haruhi said, ignoring the cries of delight from the other side of the table as Tamaki and the twins tasted their drinks. "You can get Hunni-sempai some when he wakes up."_

_Mori nodded. Haruhi smiled at him, and at the sleeping Hunni, before turning her attention back to the other boys._

"_You guys should calm down," she said, exasperation in her voice. "They're never going to let me back in here if you keep this up."_

………………………………

* * *

"We came here all the time after that," Kaoru said, with a laugh. "This place became the official Host Club hang-out spot."

"They named one of the 'Flavor of the Month' drinks after the boss," Hikaru recalled with a snort. "They called it the 'Love Latte', or something like that."

"Actually," Kyoya said, flipping through the pages of his book. "It's proper name was 'The Tasty Tamaki'."

The twins blinked, and then dissolved into hoots of laughter.

"That's right!" Kaoru said, struggling to breathe between giggles.

"And Tamaki told the girls at Ouran about it, and this coffee shop was packed for the entire month!" Hikaru added, pounding on the table.

"You two are just jealous," Tamaki said loftily. "Jealous that my beauty inspired such brilliance."

That set the twins off again, until tears rolled down their cheeks and they had to lean against each other for support.

"You sure were grumpy that day, Kyo-chan," Hunni said, his brown eyes wide.

"How would you know?" Mori asked. "You slept through almost the entire trip."

Kyoya gave his glasses a nudge up the bridge of his nose.

"I don't think it unreasonable for people who keep late hours to sleep in a bit," he said. "Nor do I regard my attitude as inappropriate, all things considered."

"Of course you don't," Haruhi muttered into her cup.

"That girl who took your order had icicles hanging from her eyebrows after you blasted her for trying to flirt with you," Hikaru pointed out, wiping the tears of laughter from his cheeks.

"That's nothing," Kaoru said, still snorting out the occasional laugh. "Kyoya's done a lot worse during his morning grumpiness than terrify some shop girl."

Kaoru leaned forward, his golden eyes glowing. The wide smile that stretched his face was due partially to residual hilarity, but also to the fact that his plan was working perfectly. In the wake of something they all could share, the air of awkwardness was gone from the table. As long as they could keep this up, it might not come back. They could be friends again in memories first. It wouldn't be the same spell as before, but the carriage would roll on nonetheless.

But for right now, Kaoru was the only one bringing memories to the table. That had to change for this to work.

"Boss, do you remember when you made Haruhi take us on a commoner's camping trip?"

* * *

_A/N: I really should apologize for picking on Kyoya so much, but since I don't intend to stop, it would be kind of a moot point. What happens when the Host Club retreats to the wilderness, without the modern conveniences they're accustomed to? Find out in the next chapter!_


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Again, a big thanks to everyone that reviewed. Saying that I kept everyone in character is one of the best compliments you could give me, so thanks! I hope all you readers out there are enjoying the story...I'm certainly having a blast writing it. _

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori.  
_

**Roughing It**

"Boss, do you remember when you made Haruhi take us on a commoner's camping trip?"

Hunni's hand shot into the air, nearly upsetting his hot chocolate.

"I remember, Kao-chan!"

Kaoru grinned at the older boy's enthusiasm.

"That's right," Tamaki said thoughtfully. "I'd forgotten. We went so many places back then."

"You saw it on a TV show," Hikaru reminded him. "You were so excited about the idea of 'rustic living' that you made us cosplay as American pilgrims."

"And then you made Haru-chan arrange a camping trip for us!" Hunni added.

"That was not a camping trip," Hikaru said darkly. "It was a brief foray into the bowels of Hell."

Haruhi smiled into her coffee cup. It occurred to her that she'd only meant to stay for half an hour; she was fifteen minutes behind schedule. But one more story couldn't hurt. She had all night to study.

"I tried to warn you guys," she said. "Camping isn't as easy as it looks on TV. But once an idea took root in that head of yours, Tamaki-sempai, there was no shaking it loose."

"Why do you say it like that?" Tamaki demanded. " 'That head of yours'. Is there something wrong with my head?"

There was a sudden and desperate scramble as everyone attempted to muffle their laughter with their respective beverages.

"There are many things wrong with your head, Tamaki," Kyoya said. "Most of which remain undiagnosed."

Half the table snorted into their coffee cups, which resulted in a brief moment of communal choking. Mori helpfully pounded Hunni's back.

"How can you be so mean to Daddy, Mommy dear?" Tamaki wailed.

"Is he still calling you that?" Hikaru asked, once he cleared his airway.

"He never stopped."

"Come on, you guys," Kaoru said, bringing the conversation back to center. "The camping trip wasn't all bad." A wicked smile lit up his face. "I have some really great memories from that particular experience."

Kyoya's voice was serene, even pleasant, when he spoke. But his glasses flashed dangerously.

"Must you tell this story?"

Kaoru bit his tongue as what felt like a block of ice dropped down his spine. Hunni tilted his head, his little brow scrunched.

"How come you don't want to talk about the camping trip, Kyo-chan?" he asked curiously.

Kaoru gave a nervous laugh.

"You mean you don't remember, Hunni-sempai?" he asked.

Kaoru made sure to keep his eyes off of Kyoya as he started to speak. Just feeling the frozen darts of dissatisfaction that those dark eyes were shooting his way was unsettling enough.

* * *

_Even though the other occupants of the car were chattering with obvious enthusiasm, Haruhi sat completely still and silent. To be honest, she was completely dumbfounded. She couldn't speak because in her mind she was trying to figure out exactly when she got roped into this ridiculous scheme. It had all happened so fast; one minute she was running into Music Room 3, running because she was a couple of minutes late and she knew that the shadow king would be quick to comment on her tardiness. Fifteen minutes later she was making reluctant arrangements for a weekend camping trip. How had she gotten sucked in so fast?_

_Haruhi scowled a little at a certain blonde passenger, who was all but bouncing in his excitement. Of course. He was the answer to her question; he always was. When Tamaki got his mind wrapped around something, you couldn't talk him out of it. Trying to argue with him was completely useless. He'd twist you round and round, until your eyes spun like roulette wheels, and eventually you'd agree out of sheer self-defense. Really, Tamaki was like a steamroller wrapped in velvet; what else could flatten you with such civility?_

_Now they were headed to some secluded spot in a forest somewhere. And they were driving there. In a limousine. That contradiction in itself was enough to boggle Haruhi's mind. All the boys were wearing brand-name hiking boots that had never been out of the box before this moment, and they were dressed like models on the cover of some sporting magazine. Kyoya was typing away on his portable computer. Hikaru was playing his Gameboy, while Kaoru watched. Their idea of roughing it was staying somewhere with no servants. Out of all of them, Haruhi was the only one who'd ever been actual camping. _

_Inside her pack, Haruhi had crammed an extra five pounds worth of food. She was convinced that the boys would starve otherwise. _

_Eventually, the limousine stopped at a tiny rest area. The boys piled out with their packs, all energy and enthusiasm. Haruhi followed with the air of someone being dragged to their death. _

"_Thank you very much, driver man!" Tamaki said to the chauffer. "You can pick us up in this spot at the end of the weekend."_

"_Yes, sir."_

_Haruhi watched the limousine drive away and tried to ignore the sense of impending doom in her stomach. _

"_So, Haruhi," Tamaki said. "What do we do now?"_

"_We hike to where we want to set up camp," Haruhi said. "There's a nice spot down by the river."_

"_All right. Lead the way!"_

_Haruhi briefly considered the merits of gagging her obnoxiously chipper Sempai as she turned and started down the familiar path. Within fifty yards of entering the canopy of trees, the complaints from the crowd behind her were loud enough to startle the animals into hiding._

"_Hikaru, my feet hurt!"_

"_Takashi, will you carry me?"_

"_I find it excessive that we are required to walk all the way to our camping site. Is there no alternative means of transportation?"_

"_This sucks. How far do we have to walk, Haruhi?"_

_The snarl Haruhi let loose would have scared the boys senseless if it hadn't been under her breath._

"_It's about two miles," she said._

_Her answer caused a new chorus of complaints that shook the trees._

_By the time they reached the site, Haruhi's eye was twitching dangerously, and the boys were dragging themselves forward like they were on their deathbed. Only Tamaki bounced along, still fueled by his enthusiasm. And Kyoya, of course, who's composure couldn't be shaken even by a two-mile hike in unbroken boots. _

"_What do we do now?" Tamaki asked again._

_Haruhi couldn't bring herself to look at him. He'd spent the entire hike comparing the beauty of nature to his own considerable good looks. Haruhi thought that if she looked at him, she'd either beat him dead or laugh herself into hysterics._

"_We set up camp. We need to raise our tents, and gather firewood."_

"_There's more work?" Hikaru asked incredulously. "When do we start camping?"_

_Things spiraled down and out of control from there. _

_When setting up their tents, only Haruhi was able to rig hers up in a timely fashion. Two hours later, she was still helping the boys connect poles and hammer stakes into the ground. _

"_Hey Haruhi, if we don't get our tent set up right, does that mean we get to sleep with you?"_

"_Drop dead."_

_Tamaki got lost while gathering firewood, and ended up stepping straight into a hornet's nest that had fallen from a nearby tree. When Kyoya found him an hour later, he was miserable and covered in angry red stings from the knee down. Kyoya dragged him back to the campsite, and Tamaki found himself red-faced and tongue-tied as Haruhi wrapped his legs in bandages. _

"_You've got to be more careful, Sempai."_

_While Haruhi took the boys to the river to catch dinner, a meandering bear sniffed out the cake Hunni had crammed into his pack. The gang returned just in time to see the bear rip Hunni's bag apart with razor sharp teeth. They hid in the trees, trembling and terrified, until the bear finished gorging itself and wandered away. A tearful Hunni had to be coaxed back into the campsite by Mori._

"_Takashi, it didn't look anything like Tama-chan's teddy bear, did it?"_

_Finally, the sun set, and the group sat around the campfire Haruhi had built. Haruhi passed out granola bars with grim resignation; all of the boys, except for Mori, refused to eat the fish Haruhi had caught. They preferred their meat neatly packaged and sold in some upscale grocery store, not roasting on a spit over an open flame, and still in the shape it died in. _

'_Who knew you were such a nature girl, Haruhi?" Hikaru said, scratching furiously at the bug bite on his upper arm. _

"_Yeah, you're like a pro," Kaoru added, rubbing his blistered feet._

_Haruhi considered as she took a healthy bite of fish. The boys gagged in unison, save for Mori, who was contentedly devouring his own. _

"_My mom used to love camping," Haruhi explained. "Whenever she won a big case, we used to come out here to celebrate. She said it made all of her stress go away. But my dad never liked it much, so when my mom died, we stopped going." Haruhi smiled a little. "It's nice to be back here, after all this time. It kind of reminds me of her." Haruhi turned that smile in Tamaki's direction. "I guess your idea was a good one after all, Tamaki-sempai."_

_Haruhi's brown eyes sparkled in the firelight, and her smile was warm and soft. Tamaki flushed as red as his bandaged legs. _

_After a while, Tamaki insisted on making s'mores and telling scary stories, since the television had convinced him that this was a part of camping norm. The boys enjoyed the s'mores, but Kaoru's story had Hikaru, Hunni, and Tamaki huddling together on the ground, whimpering in fear. Haruhi had to convince them that no, there was no such thing as a face-eating samurai ghost, and that even if there was he most likely wouldn't be in this particular forest, before they would go to bed. _

_Things settled down fairly quickly after that. The boys, exhausted after a day of actual work, fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their specially made, super expensive camping pillows. Eventually, the dark softened into the muted light of early dawn, and a lone figure stumbled from his tent._

_Kyoya was not in a good mood as he wandered into the trees a little. Under normal circumstances, the idea of performing basic human functions outdoors would be distasteful to him. But when he was barely awake and sore from sleeping on the ground, his mood leapt from mild annoyance to seething, simmering rage._

_Finished, Kyoya stumbled back to his tent. He fell face-first onto his top-of-the-line sleeping bag, and spared a single dark thought to how horribly Tamaki would die if the idiot tried to wake him up before he was ready. As Kyoya drifted off, his arm wrapped around something warm. Confused, but not concerned enough, (or awake enough) to open his eyes, Kyoya simply snuggled down and slipped into sleep._

_A few hours later, after the sun had finished rising, the scream ripped through the campsite and startled everyone awake._

_..............................................................................................................................................................  
_

_When the driver pulled in at the rest stop two days later, he couldn't help but gape at the sight before him. Gone were the elegant and upscale men clad in impeccable attire. The boys that stood before him were dirty, covered in bandages, and miserable._

_Hunni was perched on Mori's shoulders, shaking and obviously traumatized by the whole experience. Hikaru was slapping wildly at the mosquitoes that had honed in on him like tiny missiles from the beginning of the trip. Kaoru was furiously itching his arms, where an accidental fall into a patch of poison ivy had resulted in a red and swollen rash. Tamaki was hobbling along on his bandaged legs. And Kyoya was radiating waves of dread and despair so intense, the animals in the forest behind them were still frozen in terror. Only Mori and Haruhi looked semi-normal and intact._

_Wordlessly, the driver opened the door, his jaw still scraping his shoes. The boys piled in silently, all of them giving Kyoya a wide and careful berth. _

"_Please take us straight home," Tamaki said, his purple eyes staring at nothing. He held out his pack. "And burn this for me, will you?"_

"_Yes, sir."_

………………………………

* * *

During Kaoru's story, the temperature around the table had dropped little by little. Now Haruhi was blushing furiously into her coffee cup, and Kyoya's drink was all but ice in his hand.

"I completely forgot about that!" Hikaru cried, taking in Kyoya's arctic expression with wild glee. "Haruhi screamed the trees down, and we all rushed in there, expecting to find a bear in her tent or something."

"Only we found Kyo-chan instead!" Hunni said cheerfully.

"Haruhi was on her feet, with her sleeping bag wrapped around her," Kyoya added. "And Kyoya was sitting on the ground, completely red-faced. It's still the only time I've ever seen him flustered!"

Across the table, Tamaki was having what appeared to be a breakdown of his central nervous system.

"Kyoya…," he sputtered. "You…I forgot…Gah…tried to molest my Haruhi…,"

Kyoya scowled in Tamaki's direction.

"I did not try to molest her," he said. "Moron. I went into the wrong tent and fell asleep."

Haruhi's face flamed even brighter.

"That little moment aside, I still stand by my opinion," Hikaru said. "That trip was one of the more horrible of all the boss' crazy ideas."

Tamaki instantly regained his ability to use complete sentences.

"My ideas were not crazy!" he protested. "They were creative and artistic plans designed to enhance the Host Club experience! Remember when I set up the gift exchange for Christmas? That wasn't crazy!"

While Tamaki continued ranting, Kaoru leaned back in his seat, and smiled.

* * *

_A/N: Okay, I think I'm done picking on Kyoya...for the time being. Tamaki sets up a gift exchange in the next chapter, but what about Haruhi? What can her meager funds buy them that they don't already have? Stay tuned to find out. Happy reading!_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: It's a long one...I didn't think you guys would mind. Thanks, once again, to everyone that reviewed or just stopped by to read...I really appreciate it! On that note, complexities asked me in her amazingly wonderful review if there are going to be any particular pairings in this story (complexities also gets crazy kudos for catching my writing error). I just want to let you know that, yes, the story will end with two of our favorite Host Club members together. However, since its my opinion that each of the boys loves Haruhi in his own way, I want to give them all a moment to shine. Intrigued? I hope so!_

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori_

**Worth**

"My ideas were not crazy! They were creative and artistic plans designed to enhance the Host Club experience! Remember when I set up the gift exchange for Christmas? That wasn't crazy!"

The air around the table seemed to soften. Amused facial expressions, brought on by Tamaki's rant, dimmed with quiet joy. The shared memory, for the moment only in individual minds, seemed to mellow the light itself, turning it to soothing yellow.

"That's right," Hikaru murmured. "The gift exchange."

Hunni hugged his arms, wishing that he had Usa-chan to hold on to instead. There was a hush around the table as all the boys stared into their drinks and privately relived a memory that, for most of them, was one of the happiest they had.

"Hey, you guys, what's wrong?" Her brown eyes narrowed in confusion as she took in the suddenly somber mood. "It must be a happy memory, because you're all smiling. But if it is, then why are you so quiet?"

There were soft chuckles and shared looks of exasperation around the table at Haruhi's baffled inquiry. That question was so completely in character for her; any lingering traces of awkwardness were washed away. Despite the many things that may have changed when they were apart, one aspect apparently never would.

For someone so incredibly intelligent, and intuitive, Haruhi could be ridiculously blind sometimes. And the familiarity of that fact put the boys at ease.

"Don't you remember the gift exchange, Haru-chan?" Hunni asked.

Haruhi tipped her head back, staring at the ceiling in concentration.

"Yeah," she said, after a moment. "I remember." She brought her face back down, and incredibly, a small scowl bowed her lips. "Tamaki-sempai made us cosplay as elves."

The twins burst out laughing.

"You're impossible, Haruhi," Kaoru said.

With a snort, Hikaru added; "You did hate dressing up. So I guess that would be the first thing you'd remember."

* * *

_The abandoned music room was always beautiful; it was a part of Ouran after all, and Ouran had a standard for such things. But today it was especially breathtaking. Someone had turned the opulent marble room into a showcase for the beauties of winter. Multi-colored lights wrapped around the pillars, and silver tinsel draped from the ceiling. Tables decorated with bright red flowers sat amongst mountains of soft cotton snow. A towering tree, one imported all the way from North America, stood as the room's triumphant centerpiece. Everything was soft, silver, and serene._

_But the attitude inside the room was far from peaceful._

"_Forget it, Sempai! I'm not wearing it!"_

_Haruhi closed her eyes and tried to run, despite the fact that Hikaru and Kaoru were each clinging to one of her arms, effectively pinning her in place. In front of her, Tamaki stood, costume in hand and dejection on his face, hence Haruhi's squeezed shut eyes._

"_Why not, Haruhi? Don't you like Daddy's costumes? Look, I picked this one out especially for you."_

_She was not going to open her eyes. Not even a little. She knew that the second she did, she'd be faced with a quivering pout that never failed to undo her. _

" _Forget it!" she repeated, even louder this time. "You're always dressing me up in weird outfits!"_

"_But Haruhi, everyone else is wearing one!"_

"_But why are my outfits ALWAYS PINK?"_

_She'd known as soon as she reported for Host Club duty. Walking in to Music Room Three that day was like walking into a frozen rainbow. Tamaki had declined to go with the more traditional elf uniform. Whereas most elves represented Christmas, Tamaki's elves embodied the winter season itself. Instead of red and green and striped tights, each boy was dressed in a shimmering silk getup that glittered, like snowflakes were woven into the fabric. Colors were cool, like the weather. Kaoru and Hikaru matched in pale blue. Mori wore minty green, while Hunni shone like a beacon of innocence in bright white. Kyoya was dressed in a soft and icy gray, while Tamaki wore a frosted lilac that made his eyes blinding._

_Haruhi had taken one look at them and instantly known what color was missing. _

"_Daddy just thinks you look so cute in pink!"_

_Haruhi's eyes popped open so that she could glare in Tamaki's direction. Big mistake. His eyes were soft and pleading, and the purple he was wearing made them more brilliant than they usually were. _

"_You practice that look in the mirror, don't you?" she muttered. "Fine. Give me the stupid costume."_

_She snatched the frosted pink fabric from Tamaki's hand. He all but shimmied with delight._

"_You'll be so cute!" he repeated. "Super cute, amazingly cute!"_

_Haruhi's cheeks colored, ever so slightly._

"_Whatever," she grumbled. "I'm going to change. And no," she said, cutting the twins off even as they opened their mouths. "I don't need any help."_

"_Just checking," they said in perfect unison._

"_Hey! Stop harassing my Haruhi!"_

_Haruhi only sighed as Tamaki leaped forward, his face the picture of outrage, and turned to go change._

_It wasn't so bad, all things considered. Tamaki had definitely dressed her up in worse. At least the outfit was loose, and it was sort of pretty and soft. The girls definitely went for it. Haruhi tuned them out as they went on and on about how cute she looked in pink, almost like a girl, and didn't the color just bring out the perfect paleness of her skin? She nodded in the right places, smiled as if she found their conversation fascinating, and when it was her turn to talk, did nothing more exciting than tell them about the Christmas traditions she shared with her father. _

_It left Haruhi completely baffled that they could find her story of baking cookies and exchanging small gifts on Christmas morning so fascinating. Didn't they wake up to lavish gifts and travel to exotic places during their holiday vacations?_

_When it was over, and every last giggling girl had been escorted out, Haruhi changed back into her uniform, leaving the costume carefully folded on the couch. The boys were still lounging around the room, laughing as they listened to Tamaki scold the twins for secretly hanging mistletoe around the room. Tamaki had more clients than the other hosts, and so he moved around a lot more. Every time he'd stood up to switch tables, he'd immediately tripped over some girl who had fixed herself under a green plant. _

_The twins were completely unrepentant, and everyone was laughing at the blush that seemed to have permanently affixed itself to Tamaki's face. Even Haruhi smiled a little._

"_I guess that's it," she said, picking up her bag. "I better get home; I've got to start baking. I'll see you guys after the break."_

_She'd started dropping subtle hints as to where she would be over breaks; she didn't want a repeat performance of Karuizawa. She turned to go, but Hikaru's voice stopped her before she reached the door._

"_What are you talking about? We'll see you Christmas Eve."_

_Haruhi spun around. All of the boys were watching her, varying degrees of confusion of their faces. Something in her stomach sank a little._

"_You will?" she asked._

"_For the gift exchange," Kaoru said. "Remember?"_

_Haruhi frowned._

"_What gift exchange?"_

"_Ever since its establishment, the Host Club has met on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts," Kyoya said lazily. _

"_The Boss makes us," Hikaru put in._

_Kyoya pushed his glasses up his nose._

"_I could have sworn I told you."_

"_No," Haruhi said. "Are you saying that I have to be here Christmas Eve? With gifts?"_

"_You are a member of the Host Club," Kyoya pointed out. "And it is our tradition, established by our king."_

_Haruhi sighed._

"_I guess. I'm going to have to juggle some things around."_

_There was a great gasp. Tamaki leapt off the couch like it had electrocuted him and crouched down, beckoning all the boys to shift closer._

"_Of course Haruhi doesn't want to come to our gift exchange!" he hissed in a stage whisper. "Christmas is a very hard time for commoners! They have to take money from their own paychecks to buy presents…and they have to do the shopping themselves!"_

_Hunni and the twins gasped as they tried to wrap their minds around such an awful and unfamiliar concept. Tamaki pushed a dramatic hand through his hair. _

"_To work so hard and never say anything. Daddy's little girl is so brave!" Tamaki clasped his hands together. "She must have been saving up for months to buy us suitable presents, sacrificing for our benefit!"_

"_That's so sad!"_

"_Poor Haru-chan!"_

_Across the room, and able to hear every word being said, Haruhi's eye twitched dangerously. _

"_You're such an idiot, Sempai."_

_Tamaki rushed over, and grabbed Haruhi by the arms. His purple eyes were earnest as they met hers._

"_Don't worry, Haruhi! Daddy won't let you suffer for his sake! You don't need to bring us gifts!"_

_Haruhi scowled. She planted a firm hand in Tamaki's chest and pushed, hard enough that he nearly toppled over._

"_Don't be stupid, Sempai. I'm not destitute. I can afford gifts for all of you just fine."_

"_Haru-chan, Haru-chan, I don't want you to be poor and forced into servitude!"_

_Haruhi sighed. Hunni's face was screwed up and he looked like he was on the verge of tears. _

"_Stop telling them that every time I have to spend money," Haruhi snapped at Tamaki. Her face softened a little as she looked into Hunni's anxious eyes. "Don't worry, Hunni-sempai. I'll be fine. Besides, the worth of a gift shouldn't be decided by what it costs."_

_She untangled herself from Tamaki and shook her head at all of them._

"_Damn rich people," she muttered, before exiting the room. _

_She left confused and contemplative silence in her wake._

"_I don't get it," Hikaru said, blinking golden eyes after her. "What did she mean about the worth of a gift? What the hell was she talking about?"_

………………………………

* * *

_Two days later, the all the members of the Host Club had reassembled inside Music Room Three. At Tamaki's request, all of the decorations had been left alone, and so the room still resembled the best kind of winter wonderland. _

_Conversation had been passed. Games had been played (something involving costume hats and running around like idiots…one of Tamaki's inventions). Cookies had been devoured, cookies that Ranka had talked Haruhi into baking for her 'engaging and attractive young friends'. Tamaki had insisted upon hearing "The Night Before Christmas", and had bullied Kyoya into reading the story out loud (the look on Kyoya's face as he went through the rhymes had everyone biting back laughter until they bled). _

_Anyone who happened by and poked their head in might have thought they'd stumbled across a family on Christmas morning._

_Now everyone was sitting next to Tamaki's giant tree. Most of the presents had already been opened, and several gifts worth more than Haruhi's house were sitting carelessly on the floor. Haruhi's presents alone could have paid for a year's worth of groceries. Hunni had gotten her a gigantic box stuffed with the strawberry cakes she loved, and her very own stuffed bunny. Mori had given her a gift certificate to a very fancy, and very expensive, sushi bar. The twins had gifted her with an entire wardrobe from their mother's collection, a wardrobe that consisted of a suspicious amount of swim suits and mini-skirts. And Kyoya had given her an extremely upscale electric organizer, where she could keep track of things like homework assignments and 'To Do' lists. _

_Haruhi would never admit it, but with every opulent gift she opened, her heart sank a little. And now everyone was sitting, completely still and silent, with her gifts spread out before them, and Haruhi hated herself for being embarrassed and unsure. Hadn't she been the one spouting about a gift being worth more than what it cost?_

"_Um." She twisted her hands together behind her back, despising the nervous sweat on her palms. "So, some of the gifts I bought, and some of them I made. It all depended on…on what I wanted to give."_

_She turned to Hunni first, because she felt like he might have been the easiest to please. _

"_I hope I didn't smear the frosting," she said, indicating the giant cake sitting in his brightly wrapped box. "I tried to find a kind of cake you might not have had yet. And I put the recipe in the box, in case you like it."_

_Hunni didn't say anything, just stared at the box in his hands. Haruhi swallowed hard and turned to Mori._

"_I know you don't really believe in having too many personal items, Mori-sempai. But I thought this might be okay. I, ah…I decorated the frame myself."_

_In his hands, Mori cradled a painted wooden picture frame that held an image of Mitsukuni perched on his shoulders. Haruhi hadn't really expected him to speak, but his silence was unnerving none the less._

"_Hikaru," she said, spinning to face the older twin. "I know you like music, and you already have that fancy song player, so I made you a couple of CD's with some of my favorite music."_

_Hikaru ducked his head, so that his bangs fell over his face. His mouth was pressed into a tight and careful line. Out of all of them, he seemed to be having the hardest time controlling his emotions. _

"_Kaoru, I've seen you writing stories and stuff in class, so I got you a special journal to put them in."_

_Again, nothing. Kaoru just hugged the leather bound book to his chest and gaped in Haruhi's direction. _

_Haruhi turned to look at Kyoya. By this point, discomfort had grown into a hard little ball in her stomach, and she couldn't ignore it quite so easily._

"_I know you probably already have one, Kyoya-sempai, but I got you a contact book. You're always keeping track of so many people. And the pen…well, there's this place in the mall where they'll inscribe things for you. So I thought you might like to have a nice pen with your name on it."_

_Kyoya's glasses hid his eyes as he ran a hand over the letters etched into the pen's silver surface. _

_Haruhi turned to Tamaki last. The gift he held in his hands made the ball in her stomach blossom into panic. Her mouth went completely dry._

"_I know it's kind of old," she said quietly. "It was my mother's. She used to play piano for the Zuka Club. This was a book of her favorite songs. We got rid of the piano when she died, and my dad and I don't play, so I thought you might like to have it."_

_The book in Tamaki's hands was indeed old, and a little ragged from overuse. But he looked at it like it had pages made of precious jewels and words written in gold. That's what Haruhi was too blind to see when she looked around the circle. She saw hidden faces and downcast eyes, and she interpreted disappointment._

_What she didn't see was that each boy clutched his gift like it was the most precious thing he'd ever owned. _

"_Gentlemen," Tamaki said softly. "Thank Haruhi for her gifts."_

_Most of the thank-you's were mumbled, and the majority of the boys were still unable to meet Haruhi's eyes. She'd humbled all of them in the most beautiful way, and they were afraid that if they looked at her, they'd disgrace themselves beyond recognition. Of course, Haruhi didn't see that._

"_Look, you guys don't have to pretend to like them." She attempted a very wide, very fake smile. "They're just commoner's presents, after all." She scrambled to her feet. "I've got to get home. My dad still likes to pretend that Santa brought the presents, so I have to go to sleep and give him enough time to set them out. I guess I'll see you guys after the break." She scrambled to gather up all of her gifts, stuffing the majority of them into her bag. "Merry Christmas."_

_She all but bolted from the room, two spots of color staining her cheeks. Once again, she left silence behind her._

"_Worth, huh?" Hikaru gripped the colored discs in his hands and let out a soft laugh. "I guess I get it now."_

_Haruhi hurried down the hallway, trying to beat back the mortification she'd never admit to. _

"_Stupid rich people," she muttered under her breath. "It's not my fault that they're all so spoiled and completely out of touch with reality. Who the hell gives such insane gifts every year anway?"_

_Even so, she cradled the couple of boxes in her hands so that they wouldn't slip and fall to the floor. _

_The sound of running feet filled the hallway suddenly, startling Haruhi to a standstill. She craned her neck to see who was following her._

_Oh. Of course. He probably wanted to lecture her about walking home alone after dark._

"_Haruhi, wait!"_

"_It's late, Sempai," Haruhi said, avoiding Tamaki's eyes. "I really do have to get home."_

_Tamaki skidded to a stop. He was out of breath, and his face was flushed._

"_I know," he said, panting a little. "I won't keep you. I just wanted to give you your gift."_

"_Oh," Haruhi reached out with her free hand and took the package he offered. "Right. Thanks, Sempai."_

_There was a moment of tense, and very awkward silence, before Tamaki reached out and caught Haruhi's chin in his palm. He leaned down, and Haruhi squeaked in surprise (a sound she resented the second it left her mouth…it was so girly). But Tamaki only pressed his lips to Haruhi's forehead. _

_Haruhi's face went red all the way to the roots of her hair. Tamaki pulled back quickly enough, but he didn't release her face right away. Instead he surveyed her with violet eyes that were very soft._

"_Merry Christmas, Haruhi," he finally murmured, before turning and leaving her alone in the hall. _

_Stunned and completely flustered, Haruhi stood frozen solid for a good two minutes. Eventually, curiosity got the better of her, and she juggled the boxes in her hands so that she could open Tamaki's package. _

_Inside, she didn't find the expensive and elaborate gift she'd been expecting. A book was waiting for her instead. It was simple, but full of information and beautifully illustrated. _

_The Encyclopedia of Accomplished Female Lawyers._

_Haruhi stared at the book in her hands, and wondered how the hell Tamaki had known what she'd written on her father's Christmas list. _

………………………………

* * *

"I can't believe you guys remember that so well."

In the aftermath of the memory, Haruhi stared incredulously from face to face. All the boys were still all but radiating warmth and fond remembrance.

"Is there any particular reason why we wouldn't?" Kyoya asked.

Haruhi shrugged and rubbed an absent hand over her ribs.

"I don't know. We did a lot of things back at Ouran, and most of them were a lot more memorable than a gift exchange. I guess I just didn't think it was that important, in the grand scheme of things."

Hikaru thought of brightly colored burned CD's, that he had tucked safely away in a desk drawer at home. Kaoru thought of the journal he kept in his nightstand, the one filled with words. Kyoya thought of the pen that had run out of ink long ago, but still held a place of honor on his desk. Mori thought of the picture he carried with him everywhere, one of the only personal belongings that graced his room at the dojo. Hunni thought of the recipe that he'd copied and given to every chef his family employed, and of the special cake he still ate once a week. And Tamaki thought of the music book that always sat on his piano, the one that had followed him to college and was even more battered from being used so often.

"Haruhi, are you well?" Kyoya asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

Haruhi looked up from where she'd been scowling at her stomach.

"Fine," she said with a laugh. "I didn't eat much on the plane, and I guess my stomach's mad about it."

There was an instant explosion of voices, as everyone expressed their concern and offered to bring her food.

"I've got it," she said, waving their worries away. "I'll order a sandwich or something the next time the waitress comes around."

"Are you sure?" Tamaki asked.

"You can have the rest of my cake, Haru-chan!"

Haruhi laughed at the plate Hunni pushed in her direction.

"That's okay. You finish it, Hunni-sempai."

"Hey, speaking of food," Hikaru added. "Do you guys remember the Host Club food fight?"

"You mean the one you started when you were pretending to fight with Kaoru?" Haruhi asked dryly.

Hikaru made a face at her.

"No. We didn't start this one, remember?" He pointed at another member of the group. "Mori-sempai did."

As the voices began to flow around her once more, Haruhi rested a hand on her aching stomach. She frowned thoughtfully as she suddenly recalled the title of the book she'd been sleeping on when she'd received Tamaki's royal summons.

The Encyclopedia of Accomplished Female Lawyers.

* * *

_A/N: What could cause the unshakable Mori-sempai to start a food fight? Stay tuned to find out. Happy reading!_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Sorry for the wait...but I'm back, and I'm a year older to boot. Again, thanks to everyone that reviewed or just stopped by to read. I really appreciate your feedback, and I hope you're enjoying the story!_

_I don't own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori  
_

**Speaking Without Words**

"No, we didn't start this one, remember? Mori-sempai did."

Incredulous faces whipped in Mori's direction as each individual struggled to remember what they'd obviously forgotten. There was soft laughter as, one by one, they locked the memory in place.

"I remember now," Kaoru said. "I almost keeled over from shock. I never would've thought you had it in you, Mori-sempai."

Mori blinked placidly and sipped at his tea.

"Why'd you do it, Takashi?" Hunni asked. "I remember you starting it, but I don't remember why."

"I remember," Tamaki said darkly. "Did I ever thank you for that, Mori-sempai?"

"I know I did," Haruhi said, and smiled as a light blush stained Mori's cheeks.

"It happened during one of Ouran's fairs," Kyoya said thoughtfully. "When students from other academies were visiting."

Hikaru snorted.

"And the boss made us wear special costumes to celebrate the occasion." He shook his head mournfully. "Why is it that the first thing we remember is always the cosplaying?"

Kyoya shrugged.

"I don't know. Ask Daddy."

* * *

_Only the King of the Host Club could take such a mismatch of culture and make it into something beautiful and refined. Even the twins, with their background in fashion, couldn't pull off such a feat without clashing. Only Tamaki, and his boundless enthusiasm that obliterated barriers and blockades, could throw colors on a canvas like this, and somehow call it art. _

_An Ouran fair was always a special event for the Host Club. A wave of visiting students meant an exponential increase in first-time clients, and so even Kyoya agreed to pulling out all the stops. This time Tamaki was hell-bent on impressing everyone with the Host Club's versatility, and so everyone was dressed up as a different character type (with the exception of Hikaru and Kaoru, of course; being a pair was a significant part of their charm). A list of different kinds of characters that women favored had been provided by Renge, and Tamaki had chosen the roles._

_At first, things went as smooth as wet silk. Thanks to Kyoya's careful planning, trouble rarely ever interrupted a Host Club event. Women were wooed, hearts were won, and Tamaki's charm was so spot-on, one girl burst into tears from the sheer glory of it. _

_But not even Kyoya's meticulous control and attention to detail could have prevented the gate-crashing by the students of St. Augustine's Academy, the masculine counterpart of St. Lobelia's. _

_It's wasn't that men weren't allowed to visit the Host Club. Kasanoda still maintained his status as Haruhi's most regular client (much to the delight of the female guests), and Nekozawa continued to slink in at consistent intervals. But it was well-known that the attentions provided by the Host Club were geared toward a female audience, and so while boys weren't forbidden, it was understood throughout the school that they had no real reason to be there._

_Of course, Tamaki insisted on entertaining guests regardless of their gender (he considered his charm to be universal and all-encompassing). So when the boys from St. Augustine's came crashing through the door, Tamaki welcomed them with widespread arms._

"_Gentlemen!" he cried. "Welcome to the Host Club!"_

_He strolled forward, the bells on his boots tinkling out sweet sounds as he walked. Tamaki had cast himself as the wild Bohemian artistic type, and so he wore a billowing white shirt under a short leather vest, and tight pants tucked into his bell-laden boots. His hair, a good two inches longer than it normally was, was pulled back and bound with a leather band. Never one to be content with wearing only black and white, Tamaki had also threaded a crimson scarf through his belt loops. _

"_You've come on a very special day!" he continued. "We love first-time guests!"_

_The boys, a group of four or five dressed in identical red jackets and black pants, surveyed Tamaki's outfit, top to bottom, and held back a collective smirk. The seeming leader of their little group, a boy with brown hair and bright gray eyes, folded his arms._

"_Do you?" he asked. _

_Tamaki, too caught up in his own charm to notice their disdain, nodded enthusiastically._

"_Of course!" he cried. "We have quite an impressive selection of hosts, as you can see. Do you have a preference?" He stroked a hand down his own outfit. "Maybe the artistic gypsy?" Tamaki flung a hand in Kyoya's general direction. "Or how about the professional?"_

_Kyoya had slicked back his hair and donned a well-cut business suit, and he seemed perfectly content in it. Of all the things Tamaki had ever dressed him in, this was by far the most tame and the closest to his actual personality. _

"_Or possibly the rugged outdoorsman?"_

_With the camping incident still burned into their brains, it had been unanimously decided that the only host who could play this role with any form of credibility was Mori. So the older boy was given well-worn jeans that fit tight to his lanky frame, a pair of cowboy boots, and a denim shirt, left open, of course, to show a little skin._

"_How about a man in uniform?"_

_Because police officers had already been portrayed, Hunni was given heavy boots, a T-shirt, and the thick suspenders of a firefighter's uniform. The infamous red hat was also perched atop his golden hair. He looked like a child caught playing dress-up, and the sheer cuteness of it sent some girls into convulsions._

"_Or maybe you're into bad boys?"_

_This role went to the twins primarily because it fit their personalities so well, but also because Tamaki couldn't talk anyone else into wearing the leather pants. The tight shirts and thick bracelets didn't help. _

"_Or do you prefer the shy and sensitive brainiac?"_

_Haruhi was torn between vast relief due to the fact that her simple sweater-vest and tie ensemble was relatively tame, and irritation due to being typecast. _

_The boys from St. Augustine's were visibly fighting back laughter now, and it was so obvious that even Tamaki's smile dimmed a little._

"_Ah…," the leader said in a choked voice. "We'll just find a table and try a little of each."_

_They wandered to a table in the corner, some of them shaking from the effort of holding their hilarity in. _

"_I'd keep an eye on them if I were you," Kyoya said mildly, shutting his black book with a snap. "From what I know of St. Augustine's, causing trouble is one subject they excel in."_

_Throughout the course of the event, each of the hosts wandered in the direction of the St. Augustine table. All of the men were rebuffed with barely veiled amusement and flagrant disdain. Only when Haruhi happened by did they show any interest. _

"_You're Fujioka, right?" _

_Haruhi stopped. She hadn't actually been heading for their table; Hunni was out of cake and too swamped with clients to get a refill. Hoping to avoid Hunni's tears, and to catch a small break from the constant female attention, Haruhi had taken it upon herself to re-sweeten Hunni's plate. _

_She turned, cake in hand, and looked at the table of boys. It was the leader who had spoken, the one with the gray eyes. He was artfully slumped in his chair, one arm tossed over the back of it. She supposed that some girls might find him attractive, but really, even Haruhi could see that he paled in comparison to Tamaki and the rest of the Host Club. _

"_Right," she said, and tried a small smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry…I don't know your name."_

"_Masaru Ito," the boy said. "I'm a second year student at St. Augustine's."_

"_That's nice."_

_Haruhi tried to bolster her smile a little. Typically she didn't have any problems being polite to clients. Just by being herself, she'd earned her title as 'The Natural'. But something about these boys made her want to be elsewhere. _

_Masaru leaned forward in his seat a little, and there was a gleam in his gray eyes that shot Haruhi's uneasiness through the roof. It didn't help that the rest of his little gang was suddenly snickering and following their leader's example. _

"_I'm an acquaintance of Benio Amakusa," Masaru said with a secret little smile. "From St. Lobelia's. I trust you remember her."_

_Haruhi winced instinctively. How could she forget the absolutely insane Benio, leader of the Zuka club? The ridiculously tall brunette had dressed her up like the biggest girl on the planet and tried to molest her in front of approximately four hundred screaming females. _

"_Yeah," Haruhi said weakly. "I remember her. She's kind of hard to forget. Ah, how is she?"_

"_She's fine," Masaru said breezily. "She's very disappointed about missing the Ouran fair this year."_

"_Yeah, I bet. But wait, you're boys. Why would she even talk to you?"_

"_She does despise men," one of Masaru's cronies added. "But in the interest of a mutually beneficial partnership between sibling schools, she swings by sometimes with information."_

_Masaru popped his chin onto his palm and watched Haruhi out of coolly amused eyes._

"_She made a point of stopping by before the fair. And she had the most intriguing bit of information. Care to guess what it was, Fujioka?"_

_Haruhi rolled her shoulders uncomfortably._

"_Not really."_

"_We're onto your little secret." This from another one of Masaru's men, a short and stocky boy with black hair. _

"_Yes," Masaru agreed. "Benio told us all about the poor, brainwashed little maiden being held captive by the notorious Ouran Host Club, so that they could corrupt her with their nefarious and manly ways."_

_Haruhi resisted, just barely, the urge to roll her eyes. She wanted desperately to leave the table, and these idiot boys, to their own delusions. But Kyoya had a habit of melting out of random shadows, and Haruhi didn't want the Shadow King to bump up her debt due to distressing a guest. _

"_Listen, I have clients and-"_

"_I promised Benio that I would stop by during the fair," Masaru said, rolling right over Haruhi's words. "She wanted me to make sure that you aren't being too badly abused." _

_Haruhi bit back an annoyed sigh and took one wary step backwards._

"_Ah. Well, as you can see, I'm not, so I think I'll just-"_

_Masaru's hand whipped out and wrapped itself around Haruhi's wrist, halting her backward momentum. _

"_You know, Benio was right about you," he crooned. "You have such pretty eyes."_

_Haruhi's temper frayed dangerously. She bit back the tongue-lashing she would have loved to deliver, because Kyoya would read her the riot act if she upset the other guests. She stood still and silent instead, because she knew if she opened her mouth, whatever came pouring out would all but peel the skin off of Masaru's face. _

_Across the room, Hikaru paused right in the middle of imparting some brotherly love upon his twin. His golden eyes widened ridiculously as he honed in on Haruhi, and the situation surrounding her. _

_Instead of a caress to the cheek, Kaoru got a sharp elbow in the ribs._

"_Kaoru!" Shock kept Hikaru's voice blank, the frozen disbelief that sometimes precedes the hot whip of temper. "That guy over there is grabbing Haruhi!"_

"_Ouch, Hikaru, what the hell is your…what did you say?" Kaoru's head came up like a hunter scenting prey. _

_Tamaki also spotted Haruhi's predicament, and he jumped up so fast that the table he was sitting at almost upended. Kyoya, who had decided a good five minutes ago that the situation would require some assistance, headed over to flank his king. _

_Unaware that the men were mobilizing at her back, Haruhi gritted her teeth as Masaru gave her wrist a little tug, forcing her to take a step forward. And the idiot was still talking._

"_You know, I got the impression that Benio would be so very grateful if someone was to save you from this." Masaru stroked a finger against the inside of Haruhi's wrist. With her vision rapidly turning red, Haruhi briefly considered throwing up all over the jerk's expensive leather shoes. "Want me to save you, Fujioka?"_

_Haruhi's voice was strangled with fury when she spoke._

"_What I want is for you to go straight to-"_

_She didn't really remember moving. There was the brief sensation of strong fingers wrapping around her upper arm, and then the rest of her sentence was suddenly aimed at someone's shoulder blades. _

_Haruhi stared stupidly down at her wrist, which was now free from Masaru's hand, and then blinked up at a flannel-covered back._

"_M-Mori-sempai?"_

_The older boy, who had positioned himself protectively in front of Haruhi, dropped three words like stones, loud enough to rumble through the room._

"_Leave Haruhi alone."_

_A horrible, awkward silence rolled through the crowd like a flag unfurling. Haruhi's mouth was all but on her shoes as she tried to wrap her mind around Mori's sudden chivalry. She'd seen it before; he was a Host Club member, after all. But it was so rarely aimed in her direction._

_Haruhi rubbed her empty hands together, instinctively trying to wipe the feel of Masaru's fingers from her skin. Wasn't someone going to say something, anything? All this silence was a little unnerving and…_

_Wait._

_Empty hands?_

_Haruhi blinked down at her palms. The plate of cake she'd been carrying for Hunni had disappeared like smoke. A quick glance showed that it hadn't ended up on the ground as a result of Mori's grab. So where was it?_

_Unless…_

_Swallowing hard, Haruhi peeked around Mori's broad back. When she spotted Masaru, her eyes popped comically wide, and she understood the sudden silence in the room. It was impossible not to stop and stare. Even the other boys from St. Augustine were goggling._

_Masaru's elegant, pretty-boy face was covered in cake from the hairline down. And the empty plate was sitting innocently on Mori's palm. _

_She tried to hold it in, she really did. It was still so quiet, and judging by the color Masaru's face was turning under the layers of cake and cream, an explosion on his part was imminent. She knew that it would only make matters worse, and she nearly busted a rib trying to bite it back. But __really__, even Masaru's eyebrows were decorated with frosting. _

_And it was pink._

_The sound that escaped Haruhi's throat was somewhere between a snort and a snicker. Upon hearing it, the very fires of hell lit in Masaru's eyes. He took a step forward, while his backup boys performed an anxious dance around him. Mori tensed, and shoved Haruhi behind him once again. Hunni, who had appeared at Mori's side like magic, crouched into a fighting stance. The girls skipped back, torn between fear and fascinated shock. Tamaki hopped from foot to foot, ready to range himself beside his friends. Even Kyoya braced for a fight. Haruhi's laugh had sparked a nasty spiral; the situation was suddenly teetering on the edge of actual violence, something that the Host Club had always been so careful to avoid. There was a reason why Kyoya worked so hard to keep it away. A fight was hard, and it was real, and the Host Club was neither of those things. Allowing something so harsh into a world that was based in fantasy would bring reality where it didn't belong. If there was violence, the Host Club would recover, but something in the name would be forever bruised. They all knew it, on some level, and the moment, Masaru's lunge, became huge, and important. This had to be avoided, but how do you stop an avalanche already in motion?_

_Hikaru looked at Kaoru. A millisecond of silent communication was shared, and an answer was reached. You couldn't stop an avalanche, not really._

_But you could redirect it._

_The choreography was so smooth, and so perfectly timed, it rivaled the greatest of dance steps. Identical hands snatched plates from the nearby table. Hikaru darted past Mori to meet Masaru's lunge, and Kaoru pivoted in the opposite direction._

"_FOOD FIGHT!"_

_Masaru's attack was aborted as Hikaru smashed a fresh slice of cake in his face. At the same exact moment, Kaoru shoved his pastry-filled plate into Tamaki's stunned and sputtering visage. A wet sound bubbled from the Host King's throat, like a bathtub drain. _

"_Urk."_

_The girls shrieked with laughter as the plate slid off of Tamaki's face, leaving behind a mess of crumbs and cream. Tamaki blinked once, and then bellowed like a brassed-off bear. He snatched up a handy plate and heaved it in Kaoru's direction. But the boy ducked, and the plate sailed over his head._

_It hit Kyoya right between the eyes. _

_There was a fresh wave of scandalized laughter. Tamaki's face drained of color as Kyoya brushed the plate aside and calmly removed his frosting-spattered glasses. His dark gaze locked on Tamaki like an intercontinental missile, and he hissed a single word._

"_Moron."_

_Tamaki let out a scream of fear as Kyoya lunged in his direction, cake in hand._

_The atmosphere spiraled out of control, from fear and confusion to chaos and innocent fun. Girls ran around the room, screaming like air raid sirens as they were bombarded by the boys, and by the other clients. Cake and other assorted pastries flew through the air like bombs. Frosting, cream filling, and fragments of baked goods decorated every surface like bits of spongy flesh. _

_Laughter filled the room, and the brightness of it chased away any and all lingering shadows of anger. Reality had been banished by the innocent illusion of cruising cake grenades and potential fists were replaced with frosting fights. _

_After a while, Haruhi found herself taking cover under an abandoned table. Mori was crouched down at her side, crowded close to Hunni, who was all but prostrate with grief over such a blatant waste of baked goods. Haruhi took a moment to catch her breath, and watched the twins chase a trio of giggling girls with cake-laden plates. _

_It occurred to her as she looked around the room that five particular red jackets were suddenly and suspiciously absent. _

_Only one person could have ejected them that quickly, that quietly, and with enough force to keep them away. _

_Haruhi shot a sidelong glance at Mori. His outfit was completely coated with cake, and there was frosting smeared along his face and in his hair. His eyes were serene as he surveyed the complete chaos careening around the room. _

_Haruhi thought of how he'd tucked her behind him so carefully, and how gentle his hand on her arm had been, even as he'd pulled her back. Something in her chest swelled._

"_Mori-sempai?" Those quiet eyes slid in her direction, and Haruhi smiled. "Thanks. Really." She brushed his arm with hers. "Thank you."_

_The barest hint of pink stained Mori's cheeks. He lifted an affectionate hand and rested the warm weight of it on Haruhi's frosting-filled but still-soft hair. _

_They sat like that for a while, and watched Tamaki run from a still-pissed, pastry-toting Kyoya. They didn't talk, and it was okay, because they both understood that Mori always spoke better without words. _

………………………………

* * *

"Whatever happened to Masaru, and the other boys?" Tamaki wondered, popping his elbows on the table.

Kyoya adjusted his glasses and shot Mori a covert glance.

"They were escorted out," he said. "According to my sources, Benio Amakusa was furious at Masaru for trying to accost Haruhi, and she spent the following few months lobbying for his expulsion from St. Augustine's, and cursing the male species as a whole."

Hikaru snickered.

"And that's different from her usual routine, how?"

"I have a question," Kaoru said, cradling his cup of now-cold coffee in his hand. "You're a martial arts expert, Mori-sempai. Why didn't you just take Masaru down?"

Mori shrugged.

"Force is only to be used when there are no other options," he said slowly. "And I was afraid…that if I hurt him, he would find a way to blame it on Haruhi."

Haruhi blinked big brown eyes in Mori's direction. He was blushing again.

"You were worried, about me?" she asked.

Mori nodded.

"I didn't want my actions to get you in trouble."

"So instead you fought with food," Hikaru concluded.

"And sparked one of the most successful events that the Host Club ever put on," Kyoya pointed out.

Hunni let out a sad little moan.

"All that wasted cake!" he wailed. "Takashi, how could you?"

Everyone chuckled.

"In all fairness, Hunni-sempai," Haruhi said reasonably. "Mori-sempai may have thrown the first piece of cake, but Hikaru and Kaoru were the real instigators."

"Yes, that was quick thinking," Kyoya agreed. "You successfully turned the fight from a potentially dangerous situation, into something foolish and fun."

Tamaki scowled at the smirking twins.

"Why'd you throw the cake in my face first?" he demanded.

"Because we knew that you'd overreact," Hikaru said. "And then everyone would look at you."

"We figured that your melodrama would take the focus off of Masaru," Kaoru added. "And defuse the situation a little."

Haruhi shook her head and ignored her still-rumbling stomach.

"You guys always have the angles covered," she said with amused exasperation. "You play every situation like you planned it from the beginning."

Kyoya cleared his throat.

"Not always. I seem to recall an event, the Hitaachin Week of Games, that ended up throwing our beloved brothers for a loop." Kyoya smiled and enjoyed the sweet taste of revenge on his tongue as the twins sent him flushed and flustered glares. "Don't you remember, Haruhi?"

* * *

_A/N: What kind of game could possibly cause the ever-scheming twins to lose? Stay tuned to find out. Happy reading!_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Again, a huge thanks to everyone that has read/reviewed this story! This story has received such an awesome response...thanks for supporting it! By the way, I put in the details of Tamaki's game because I thought the fans would enjoy it the most...._

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori  
_

**Finding the Line**

"Not always. I seem to recall an event, the Hitaachin Week of Games, that ended up throwing our beloved brothers for a loop." Kyoya smiled and enjoyed the sweet taste of revenge on his tongue as the twins sent him flushed and flustered glares. "Don't you remember, Haruhi?"

Haruhi gave a contemplative hum as the waitress set down the sandwich she'd ordered.

"Maybe?" she said, picking up the thick brick of meat and cheese.

"I don't," Tamaki said with a furrowed brow.

Kyoya shifted to the side so that the waitress could refill his coffee cup.

"It wasn't known as the Hitaachin Week of Games at the time," he said. "It wasn't named until after it was over."

Hunni bounced in his seat, sporting a foam mustache from his fresh mug of hot chocolate.

"I remember, I remember!" he chanted. "It was the first time Hika-chan and Kao-chan lost one of their own games!"

The twins flushed in unison.

"We didn't really lose," Hikaru muttered irritably.

"It was more a of a forfeit," Kaoru added.

Kyoya steepled his fingers and rested his chin on top.

"Yes," he said. "And what was the reason for that forfeit again?"

The only answer from the twins was sullen silence. They stared at their steaming coffee cups and said nothing.

"Don't remember?" Kyoya asked pleasantly. "Not to worry. I have it all written down."

* * *

_It started innocently enough, or as innocently as any idea can when spawned from the mind of the twins. The two were slumped on the sofa by the window, watching idly as the other members of the Host Club entertained a few remaining clients. It was almost time to close, and their last guests had been escorted out ten minutes ago, faint and fluttering and on the verge of nosebleeds. _

_They hadn't even done that much. Giving Kaoru a smack on a certain part of his anatomy was tame, really, compared to some of the things they'd been considering adding to their act. _

_Golden eyes were bored, almost sleepy, as they watched the others hosts go through the very familiar motions. Tamaki had his fan club swooning with a few well-aimed lines and a sideways glance out of his killer eyes. Over in the corner, girls squealed with delight as Hunni nodded off against Mori's shoulder. Kyoya held his audience captive simply by speaking, his velvet voice turning his intelligent words into something as smooth and soft as buttermilk. And Haruhi charmed her guests with nothing more than her personality, enhanced as always by that air of bafflement as she tried to puzzle out why the girls found her so endearing. _

"_God," Hikaru said, propping his chin on his palm. "Are you as bored as I am?"_

_Kaoru let out a yawn._

"_Totally," he agreed. _

_Hikaru turned to look out the window, letting the soft sunlight filter over his face._

"_Every day here is the same," he murmured. _

_Kaoru made a quiet sound of agreement. _

"_Kaoru," Hikaru said after a while. "How long has it been since the last time?"_

_Kaoru rolled his shoulders. _

"_A month, at least."_

_Hikaru turned to smile at his twin, his golden eyes sparking with the beginnings of excitement._

"_Then aren't we overdue?"_

"_I'm not really in the mood for the Quarrelling Brothers," Kaoru said. "Besides, we have nothing to win."_

"_The Quarreling Brothers is old hat," Hikaru said, waving his hand dismissively. "Everyone here has seen it. We need something new. Something…exciting."_

_Kaoru sat a little straighter in his seat. The first stirring of interest crossed his face._

"_Did you have something in mind?" he asked._

_Hikaru shrugged._

"_Usually when we play, we focus on a single opponent, right?" Kaoru nodded. "What if we were to…expand our horizons a little? Make the game a little bigger?"_

_Kaoru tapped his fingers against his mouth. _

"_Go on."_

_Hikaru's eyes swept the surrounding area, and a broad smirk began to curve his lips._

"_Outside of us, there are five hosts, right?" he asked. "And five days in a typical school week. What if we were to have a tournament of sorts? A special week of games, with each day focusing on a specific target?"_

_Kaoru continued to tap as he contemplated his brother's idea. Golden eyes scanned the occupants of the room, and a slow smile graced his face, completely identical to Hikaru's. _

"_So, who's first?"_

_They started with Tamaki, because they picked on him on a daily basis. Playing a game with him wouldn't ruffle any feathers, or raise any suspicions. And because they dedicated so much time already to making Tamaki crazy, they kept his game relatively simple. _

"_Hey Boss, we were wondering," Hikaru started, sidling up to Tamaki's left. _

"_Do your clients ever get bored of your royalty routine?" Kaoru finished, sliding up the other side._

_Tamaki bristled instantly. _

"_What do you mean?" he demanded. _

_The twins shrugged._

"_Well, it's just that your act never really changes," they pointed out._

"_You always play the same character," Hikaru said._

"_There isn't a lot of variety," Kaoru added._

"_So we were just wondering if your clients ever get bored."_

_Tamaki tugged himself out of the twin sandwich and turned to face them, his long and graceful fingers fluttering with affront._

"_Of course not! My princely demeanor is always charming. And it certainly isn't an act!"_

_Without Tamaki between them, the twins hooked on to each other instead._

"_So, what you're saying, Boss, is that the character you contribute to the Host Club is basically your personality?" Hikaru asked silkily as he rubbed his cheek against Kaoru's._

"_Sounds a little unfair, if you ask me," Kaoru added. "Hikaru and I work very hard to make sure that our little displays of affection are always in full view of the clients."_

"_How dare you?" Tamaki cried, bringing a hand to his chest as if the twins had hit him with bullets instead of words. "I work! I am the King of this Host Club!"_

_The twins slid identical arms around each others shoulders. _

"_Oh?" they purred in unison. _

"_Are you really?" Hikaru asked._

"_Because it sure seems like Kyoya-sempai does an awful lot of work around here," Kaoru said. _

_The sound Tamaki made was one akin to someone hit in the face with a frying pan. He slid down to his knees, fisting his hands on the floor like someone who'd just had his lifelong dreams shattered. _

"_Could…they be right?" he gasped. "Am I really so worthless? Oh, the shame, the embarrassment!"_

_Above him, Hikaru and Kaoru whispered to each other behind their hands, in perfectly audible voices, of course._

"_Did you hear that? The boss admitted that he doesn't do any work around here."_

"_I know. It's so unfair. He probably couldn't pull off an act like ours if he tried."_

_Tamaki gave a great gasp, and bounced to his feet. _

"_That's it!" he cried. "I'll prove to you that I can work just as hard as you can!" He pivoted and dashed away, calling for Kyoya. _

_By the time Haruhi became aware of the situation, it was too late to prevent it. She caught a glimpse of the twins, having hysterics in the corner, and instantly scanned the room to figure out what they'd done. When she spotted Tamaki, she groaned._

"_Excuse me, ladies," she said, to her table of fluttering females. "I'll be right back."_

_She marched over to the gigantic group of girls surrounding Tamaki, tossing a single glare at the twins as she passed. The King of the Host Club was currently hanging off of a very stiff Kyoya. _

"_Um…Sempai?" she asked hesitantly. "What are you doing?"_

"_Oh, Haruhi," Tamaki crooned. "Daddy's just showing Mommy a little affection." _

_Tamaki tightened the arm he had wrapped around Kyoya's hips and rested his chin on the Shadow Lord's shoulder. _

"_And why are you doing that?" Haruhi asked carefully, watching the vein twitching in Kyoya's temple with great concern._

_Tamaki gave a merry little laugh._

"_Why, I'm just contributing my services to this Host Club," he said. "It's been brought to my attention that Daddy might be overworking Mommy a little."_

_He rubbed his chin back and forth on Kyoya's shoulder and spoke his next words right into the Shadow Lord's ear._

"_I've been terribly selfish, haven't I?"_

_Kyoya's eye began twitching in time with his jumping vein. _

"_Sempai, who brought it to your attention that you need to work harder?" Haruhi asked. She almost had to shout to her question over the symphony of squeals coming from the gaggle of girls. "Was it the twins? Because right now they're over in the corner, laughing themselves into a coma."_

_Tamaki froze. He looked around the room, and his purple eyes dilated as he caught sight of the twins, who were slumped over and giggling so hard that tears rolled down their cheeks. _

_Tamaki's cheeks flamed a bright and vibrant red. He leapt away from Kyoya like his feet were on fire, and the girls gave a collective cry of disappointment. They were swiftly appeased, however, by watching Tamaki chase the twins around the room, shouting about the torture he was going to inflict as soon as he got his hands on them._

"_Are you okay, Kyoya-sempai?" Haruhi asked the Shadow Lord, who had yet to move._

_Kyoya crossed his arms and gave Haruhi a smile that sent shudders down her spine._

"_They're all on my list," he purred, and Haruhi skipped back several steps. _

_Everyone put the incident out of their minds. But the next day, Mori wandered in, his face an unattractive shade of purple. Apparently, an anonymous source had posted a challenge on the school bulletin board earlier that morning. Whoever could get Mori-sempai to make the most noise would win a fabulous prize. The anonymous poster failed to add a set of rules, which the participants took to mean there weren't any. _

_Poor Mori spent the day being prodded, provoked, pinched, and pestered. And the groping. More than a few girls saw this as a golden opportunity to get their hands on the stoic Mori-sempai. By the end of the day, Mori sat in Music Room 3, completely traumatized, and refused to leave until all the other students had vacated the school._

_A certain set of look-alikes steered suspiciously clear of the Host Club that afternoon._

_The Mori-incident raised the red flags to half-mast. The events of the next day sent them screaming to the top of the pole. No one could figure out why Hunni was wandering from class to class, pale and teary-eyed and looking like the world had come crashing down on his head. The mystery remained unsolved until that afternoon. Hunni looked down at the cake sitting on the table in front of him, and then up at Mori, who was still suffered the occasional twitch from the day before._

"_Takashi," he asked, his voice hitching. "Does cake really stunt growth? Is that why I'm so short?"_

_Mori's jaw hit the table in front of him. A fire lit in his eyes, one that was almost never seen, one that promised all kinds of vengeance. He whipped his head around, just in time to see two red-headed figures sprint out the door. _

_Nothing happened on the fourth day, but it was a very significant nothing. Hikaru and Kaoru spent the entire school day shooting subtly smug looks in Kyoya's direction. Every time the Shadow Lord left class, the twins were there, hovering just outside the door. During every passing time, Kyoya couldn't walk the hall without brushing up against one of them. The Shadow Lord, not a paranoid person by nature, thought of the events from the previous day and began jumping at the slightest sounds, and checking around corners before he took them. He was convinced that nothing could slip past his shields, so long as he kept them strong enough, and he spent the day a twitching, note-scribbling mess of hyper-awareness. _

_When nothing had happened by the time the final bell rang, Kyoya gathered his things and pushed his way past several startled students. He all but sprinted to Music Room Three, and fought a brief but brutal internal battle when he spotted the twins, already parked on the sofa and calmly sipping coffee._

"_What, no trick?" he snapped at them, in a remarkably level voice. "No pie in my face, or banana peel in the hallway?" He crossed his arms to contain his tension. "I'm waiting."_

_Hikaru set his coffee cup carefully on his saucer and gave Kyoya a lazy smile._

"_Whatever do you mean, Kyoya-sempai?" he asked. "We wouldn't dream of doing something like that to you."_

_Kaoru traced an idle finger around the rim of his mug._

"_You're far too smart for us to play games with," he added sweetly. _

_Kyoya's eye began to spasm dangerously as the twins took simultaneous sips._

"_It's not our fault if you got a little paranoid," they said. _

_No one was completely certain of the details, but that afternoon, during the Host Club's open hours, Kyoya was glowering so badly that nobody could work up the courage to ask. _

_By the end of the week, everyone was watching Haruhi with nervous and sympathetic eyes. She was the only one left, and the way the twins were watching her left little mystery to their intentions. Being the most sensible of the bunch, Haruhi didn't let it bother her. In fact, she didn't even think about it until two shadows fell over her as she attacked her homework._

"_What do you two want?" she asked without turning around. "Not that I haven't been expecting this."_

_There were two soft chuckles._

"_Don't worry, Haruhi," Hikaru crooned._

"_We just want to play a little game," Kaoru said. _

_Haruhi took a moment to finish the sentence she was writing, and then she turned around. The twins were grinning at her, their smiles all but breaking records. _

"_I'm sure you do," she said with amused exasperation. "But before we play, I have a question."_

"_Yes?"_

_Haruhi tilted her head so that brown eyes met golden ones._

"_Do you guys want me to be your toy, or your friend?"_

_Their smiles slipped away as if Haruhi had slapped them off their faces. She watched as malicious intent was replaced with confusion._

"_Because I can't be both, you see," she said with a small smile. "I'll be your toy, that's fine. But only if you guys can't respect me enough to be your friend."_

_The confusion deepened as Haruhi's words hit home, became a kind of misery._

"_Haruhi, we didn't…" _

"_We never meant…"_

_Haruhi's smile widened, and became strangely gentle._

"_I know you didn't," she said. "That's just the way you guys are, and I get that. I don't want you to be anything but what you are. But someone has to show you that defining line." She tilted her head. "And who better than a friend to help you find it?"_

_Golden eyes went soft.  
_

"_A friend?" the twins repeated._

_Haruhi laughed and shook her head._

"_Of course, you idiots. Don't you know that by now?"_

_Still shaking her head, Haruhi turned back to her homework. At a loss for words, the twins gaped at her shoulder blades._

_And just like that, the Hitaachin Week of Games ended, without the expected fanfare of a final, awe-inspiring prank. _

………………………………

* * *

Hikaru and Kaoru were completely red by the time Kyoya finished speaking. There was a momentary beat of silence around the table as everyone considered just how Haruhi had tamed the proverbial beast.

"Things were different after that," Tamaki said softly. "The pranks were still there, but they were just that. Pranks." He smiled at the miserably embarrassed twins. "The two of you didn't play games with us anymore."

"Yeah, well," Hikaru said, bringing his cup to his lips.

"Takashi and I graduated not much later," Hunni added, and his little boy voice was sad. "So, a lot of things changed after that."

Haruhi pushed her plate away.

"_Everything_ changed after that," she corrected quietly.

She saw Tamaki eying the abundance of food still on her plate and shoved it in his direction.

"Go ahead and eat it, Sempai." She rubbed her stomach, which had become one raw ache. "I guess I'm not as hungry as I thought."

"Everything did change," Kaoru agreed. "But it started on the day that Hunni-sempai and Mori-sempai left. I don't know about the rest of you, but I remember the very distinct feeling that nothing was ever going to be the same."

* * *

**A/N: We all knew that Hunni and Mori had to leave eventually. How does it change the Host Club, and how does it relate to a secret someone in the group is hiding? Stay tuned to find out. Happy reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Wow. Writing this chapter was hard. I hope that means its good! Thanks again to everyone that reviewed, or just stopped by to read! All of your support means a great deal to me. You guys rock! And just to throw in a little shameless self-promotion, I've started a new multi-chapter piece; the first part is up. If any of you are D.N. Angel fans, make sure to check it out!_

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori.  
_

**Echoes of Goodbye**

"Everything did change," Kaoru agreed. "But it started on the day that Hunni-sempai and Mori-sempai left. I don't know about the rest of you, but I remember the feeling that nothing was ever going to be the same."

There were nods of agreement all around the table. No one spoke, and judging by the expressions decorating most of the Host's faces, the reason for that reluctance was that this memory was a bit more painful than the others.

"We spent weeks preparing for the final event," Kaoru continued softly. "Usually, when the boss had an idea, we had to act on it as soon as possible. But we put a lot of time into that one."

"Because it had to be perfect," Tamaki said, with a small smile. "I wasn't going to ruin Mori-sempai and Hunni-sempai's final Host Club gathering with my impatience."

"A miracle in itself," Kyoya added, but the tiny curve of his lips took the sting from his words.

"No cosplaying that day," Hikaru recalled. "No themes or crazy decorations."

"No," Tamaki said, and his eyes warmed as he looked at Hunni's adorable face and Mori's stoic expression. "Just us. The original Ouran Host Club. One last time."

* * *

_Tears were common enough within Music Room Three. They were popular with the ladies, as the twins had mentioned once before, and so the Host Club never failed to utilize them when they thought it appropriate. _

_ But they'd never seen such an abundance of the wet stuff, and out of their guests, no less. _

_ They weren't really surprised though. They'd planned this event on the day of graduation, and it was just a few hours before two of their own would walk across the stage and out of the High School Host Club forever. _

_ To commemorate the day, none of the other Hosts were taking clients. Hunni and Mori were the only two officially entertaining, while the rest of the club acted as food and water servers. When they weren't carrying Hunni's favorite cake or the drink that Mori favored, however, they were crowded on the couches with the girls, gathered around the two oldest Hosts. _

_ The entertainment being provided today was less about female flattery, and more about fond memories and gentle goodbyes. Hence the tears. Some girls, especially Hunni and Mori's regular clients, were all but inconsolable. The littlest host himself wasn't even trying to keep a brave face. He teared up right along with the guests, especially when one girl handed him a tiny stuffed bunny she'd made, one he could carry in his pocket, since Mori had let it be known that Hunni wouldn't be allowed to cart Usa-chan around in public once they graduated. _

_ Mori didn't cry, and no one really expected him to. But he did smile more than he ever had before in such a small amount of time. And when one guest broke down, sobbing about how much she was going to miss him, Mori reached out with one long arm and pulled her close into what might have been a hug. _

_ They ran the event for as long as possible, but they had to end it early, so that those who needed to go and prepare for the graduation ceremony would have enough time. Weeping girls were ushered out with gentle hands and reassuring words. _

_ "Wow," Hikaru said, once the last girl was gone and the door was shut behind her. "It all seems so surreal. I knew this day would come, but I guess it never really registered until now."_

_ "Yeah," Kaoru agreed, glancing towards the little room where Mori and Hunni were changing into their robes. "I'm kind of numb. It feels so fast, even though we've been expecting it for months."_

_ Tamaki leapt across the room and tossed an arm around each of the twins._

_ "We must stay strong, gentlemen!" he cried, even as his voice shook dramatically. "For Hunni-sempai and Mori-sempai's sake!" He tossed a trembling hand in Haruhi's direction. "And for Haruhi, of course! Who knows when her delicate female sensibilities may overwhelm her?"_

_ Haruhi, who was sitting on the couch with her hands folded, shot Tamaki a look that was dryer than dust. _

_ "I think your sensibilities are more feminine than mine, Sempai," she pointed out. _

_ In a flash, Tamaki was in the corner, hunched up against the wall._

_ "Wow," Hikaru said, tilting his head as he stared at his boss's back. "He must be emotional today."_

_ "Yeah," Kaoru continued. "Usually it takes a little more than that to set him off. Not much. But a little."_

_ "Mommy dear, will you bring Daddy his handkerchief?"_

_ Kyoya never looked up from his computer screen._

_ "It's in your coat pocket, Tamaki. Remember, I suggested you keep it on you today, seeing as how I knew you were going to be an emotional wreck."_

_ Instantly, Tamaki was on his feet, towering over the Shadow Lord and bristling with indignation. _

_ "And what's wrong with that?" he demanded. "Don't I have the right to be emotional on the day that two of our beloved family members leave us forever?"_

_ "They're graduating high school, Tamaki, not going off to war."_

_ Sitting silently on the couch, Haruhi watched as Tamaki continued to rage, and Kyoya continued to ignore. She was quiet because she was confused by the hot, hard ball of emotion in her gut. She'd woken up with it this morning, and she still couldn't hazard a guess as to what it was. All she knew was that every time she thought about the upcoming ceremony, it expanded a little, pushing just a bit wider into her stomach. _

_ The door to the dressing room opened, and all conversation shut off like a light switch as Mori and Hunni stepped out. Pale blue uniform jackets had been replaced by robes of the same color. In their hands they held square hats, with bright yellow tassels hanging jubilantly from the side. The ball in Haruhi's stomach exploded, sending shards of heat and unnamed emotion flying. _

_ Tamaki's hand fluttered to his chest._

_ "Oh," he said quietly. "Mes Amis."_

_ Hunni took one look at the other Hosts, and then down at himself, and burst into tears again. _

_ "Don't cry, Hunni-sempai!" Tamaki pleaded, rushing over to the older boy. "You'll come and visit!"_

_ "It won't be the same!" Hunni wailed, fisting his hands in his robes. "I won't get to see you every day, Tama-chan!"_

_ Tamaki's eyes went comically wide, as if the thought had never occurred to him, and he snatched the smaller boy up in his arms._

_ "No, you won't!" he agreed on a wail of his own. _

_ Even as Haruhi eased to her feet, mindful of the turbulence winging around in her stomach, she still managed to roll her eyes. The other Hosts gathered in a loose circle around the howling Hunni and Tamaki. Kyoya ignored the racket and focused instead on Mori._

_ "Only a little time left now," he said. "Are you excited?"_

_ Mori nodded._

_ "You've spoken with Kasanoda?"_

_ Again, Mori nodded. His old apprentice, Kasanoda, had been selected to take over his position in the Host Club. _

_ "And what about Yasuchicka?" Kyoya added. _

_ Hunni took a break from his tears to say; "Chicka-chan hasn't officially agreed yet. But he will."_

_ "The Host Club won't be the same without our Boy Lolita," the twins observed._

_ Haruhi glanced over and saw that the two were holding hands, although they didn't seem aware of it. _

_ "We'll just have to make do with a Naughty Boy until a suitable replacement can be found," Kyoya said, pushing up his glasses. "Although, none could ever compare with you, Hunni-sempai."_

_ Hunni's eyes watered once again. Compliments from Kyoya, real compliments, were as rare as rainbows. _

_ "Tamaki," Kyoya said, shaking his head at his king, who was still wrapped dramatically around Hunni. "Don't you have something to give Hunni-sempai and Mori-sempai?"_

_ "Right!" Tamaki bounced to his feet. "Hikaru, Kaoru, help me carry them out!"_

_ "Roger!"_

_ The trio vanished, and reappeared carrying two medium-sized chests made of fine wood. They set them down in front of Hunni and Mori._

_ "Parting gifts," Tamaki said. "We all helped put them together. So that you'll always remember the time you spent as a Host."_

_ Hunni and Mori crouched down to open their chests. Inside rested various odds and ends. Hunni's bunny costume from the Alice in Wonderland theme. The samurai outfit that had been Mori's favorite cosplay. Copies of the video Renge had made. A set of commoner's board games that Haruhi had introduced them to, and that had been so well loved, Tamaki still insisted on playing them once a week. The stethoscopes they'd worn when they'd dressed as doctors on the day of Haruhi's first physical exam. Copies of Tamaki's refreshing Host rulebook that he'd written in Karuizawa. _

_ And on top of it all rested two large picture frames, each containing the same image; the Host Club, in its entirety, grouped together and laughing at the camera. _

_ Hunni was too stunned, too touched, to even cry. He looked up with his huge brown eyes, and shook his head, at a loss for words._

_ Mori gently closed his chest after running a finger along the picture frame within. He regained his feet._

_ "Thank you," he said to the entire group. "Really. I will…miss all of you."_

_ Something burned its way up the back of Haruhi's throat, and it took a moment for her to recognize it as tears. The group stood completely quiet, looking from face to face. In that silence, a million different things were said. Snatches of memory, echoes of laughter they'd shared, feelings of friendship, of support, of family; all of it passed from person to person and resonated within the empty room. _

_ No one was willing to use their voice and break the spell. They knew that this was the last time they'd stand together, stand united, as the Ouran High School Host Club. _

_ But time couldn't be stopped, even for moments such as these. Outside, the light shifted as the sun began to set, and the clock tower called the time. _

_ "We'd better go," Tamaki said, shattering the silence. "You don't want to be late for your own graduation."_

_ His voice held absolutely none of the hysterical sorrow he'd been displaying earlier. Instead it rippled with an aching sadness that was somehow worse, because it was real. _

_ They took a moment, just one more moment. And then they walked to the door together, as the unit they'd always been. Haruhi brought up the rear. She hesitated at the door, casting a single glance back at the now-empty room. Ghosts danced before her eyes, shadows of all the memories those walls now held because of them. She made a soft sound of surprise as she reached up to dash the single tear rolling down her cheek. _

_ And then, with a quiet click of finality, she closed the door at her back._

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………_._

"We did visit," Hunni said, smiling sadly into his cup. "A lot at first. But then less and less as time went by."

"That's the way it works," Hikaru said, clamping his hands around his cup so hard that his knuckles were white. "You grow up. You move on."

"It's sad," Hunni said.

Tamaki reached over to pat the older boy's hand, his violet eyes gentle.

"It is," he agreed. "But we didn't really move on from each other, Hunni-sempai. We're family, remember?"

"Then why is this the first time we've all been together since the Boss's graduation?" Hikaru demanded, his golden eyes burning.

"Hikaru," Kaoru murmured, resting a soothing palm on his brother's arm.

Hikaru shook his brother's hand away impatiently.

"If we're _family_," he spat, with a bitterness that surprised even him. "Then why haven't we seen each other in almost two years?

The silence that followed left Hikaru's hard words ringing in the air. Everyone shifted uncomfortably as they realized that they didn't have an answer.

_Crack!_

Haruhi's coffee mug hit the floor and shattered, causing more than one Host to jump in his seat. When they turned their heads, they saw their only female member, brown eyes wide with pain and shock, taking shallow breaths as she clutched at her stomach.

Instantly, all the boys were on their feet. They crowded around Haruhi, all animosity forgotten, their voices rising in a chorus of concern.

"Haruhi, what's wrong?"

"Haru-chan, Haru-chan, are you okay?"

"Call a doctor!"

Haruhi gasped and waved them away.

"I'm fine," she insisted, despite the fact that her voice was small and her face as pale as wax. "Just a stomach ache. I don't need a doctor."

She got to her feet, wincing a little. But she brushed off the hands that reached out to steady her.

"I just need to use the restroom," she said, with a shaky smile. "Excuse me a minute."

She was gone before they could protest, weaving her way through the other coffee shop patrons.

"Do you think she's okay?" Hunni asked, hopping from foot to foot with worry.

"She isn't really sick, is she?" Hikaru added anxiously.

Kyoya gazed over their heads, in the direction of the bathrooms.

"I don't think so," he said quietly. "Excuse me a minute."

And then he was gone too.

"Well, she must be okay, if Kyoya-sempai says she is," Kaoru said after a moment. "He's the one in medical school, after all."

"What if she's not?" Tamaki demanded. "What if she's sick, really sick, wasting away from some horrible disease?"

"Get a hold of yourself, Boss!" Kaoru said, as he watched his twin's face drain of all color. "I'm sure it's just a stomach ache." He curled his fingers around Hikaru's wrist and led him back to his seat. "Haruhi's probably got the flu or something, but she didn't bother to tell us. She's never been one to own up to being sick, remember?"

* * *

_A/N: Uh-oh. What is Haruhi hiding? And has she bent enough to let the boys take care of her in the past? Stay tuned to find out. Happy reading!_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: A big apology to all of my fabulous reviewers...for whatever reason, my computer isn't letting me respond to them right now. But rest assured that I did read them, and that I treasure every one. You guys completely kick ass! The amount of traffic my stories have had is jaw-dropping...I'm so grateful for all the support. _

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori.  
_

**Fever Dreams**

Haruhi made it, just barely, inside the bathroom, before the moan of pain bubbled its way up her throat and trickled through her lips. She locked the door, thankful that the bathroom was an individual one and so she wouldn't have to suffer any questioning concern from other customers, and eased her way to the washing station. Bracing her hands on either side of the sink, Haruhi lowered her head, and struggled to take deep and even breaths.

She greeted the pain with grim resignation and a complete lack of surprise. Over the last few months, she'd become distressingly familiar with this grinding, teeth-gritting sensation in her stomach. The feeling had been small at first; nothing more than a momentary annoyance that she'd easily swept aside. But it had grown, escalated, until the pain not only gripped her stomach like clawed fingers, but resounded in her head as well, an excruciating duet between two body parts.

Stomach aches, nothing more. Just indigestion, caused by stress and a diet consisting of nothing but the heroically bad food the university provided. To reinforce this belief, Haruhi reached into her pocket and took out a roll of antacids. Defiantly, she popped a couple in her mouth, and then raised her head to study her face in the mirror.

Well, she'd certainly seen better days. Her face was devoid of any color, and lightly dewed with sweat. Her hair was escaping the stubby tail she'd tied it in, and she'd bitten her lip to ribbons attempting to hold back her soft sounds of pain. Because her skin was so pale, the shadows under her eyes looked more like bruises. And she'd dropped a little weight recently. Nothing extreme, and certainly nothing to stress about, but sometimes when she got wrapped up in studying, eating dropped a rung on the priority ladder. She was taking extra classes after all, and her independent study at one of the law offices in town kept her hopping.

And truthfully, sometimes the stomach aches were worse after she ate.

_It's not a big deal,_ Haruhi thought defensively. _A lot of students forget to eat at college. And honestly, I'm so skinny; any amount of weight I lose looks drastic._

Haruhi pushed her hair out of her sweat-dampened face, tying it back into its little tail. The pain in her stomach wasn't gone, but it had pulled back enough for her to manage it. She'd have to make a reappearance, she knew. Otherwise the boys would worry, and wail, and probably camp outside her apartment for the entirety of Christmas break.

Still, she lingered at the sink for another moment. She could just imagine how ridiculous they were going to be when she came back out; she guessed that at least two of them were going to tackle hug her, and Tamaki had probably already convinced himself (and half of the other boys) that she was wasting away from some terminal illness.

Idiot. Didn't it ever get exhausting, reacting to each situation as if it was a herald of the apocalypse? What trigger did he trip within his genetic makeup that enabled him to ooze drama from every molecule of his being? And how the _hell_ was he able to make that hysteria so contagious?

A soft snort of laughter escaped Haruhi's lips, even as she shook her head. Tamaki was ridiculous; even the most brilliant lawyer couldn't argue that away. But then what did that make the rest of them? Because they all followed him in the end; she was at this coffee shop, wasn't she, when she should have been home studying. How did he take such ridiculous passion, and twist it into some kind of leadership?

Haruhi's laugh subsided into a small, shaky smile. She pressed careful fingers against her ribs, satisfied with only a small wince. She studied her waxy white face in the mirror for a moment longer, and shook her head as the memory of her last illness flitted across her mind.

* * *

"Get a hold of yourself, Boss!" Kaoru said, as he watched his twin's face drain of all color. "I'm sure it's just a stomach ache." He curled his fingers around Hikaru's wrist and led him back to his seat. "Haruhi's probably got the flu or something, but she didn't bother to tell us. She's never been one to own up to being sick, remember?"

While Haruhi was busy popping antacids and rationalizing her symptoms, Kaoru had his hands full. He'd managed to get Hikaru back into his seat, but his twin was so anxious he was all but levitating off the chair. Hunni was dancing from foot to foot, twisting his hands frantically and rapidly blinking brown eyes filled with tears. Mori wasn't expressing his concern through movement, but he wasn't sitting either, and Kaoru could see the older boy's urge to protect bubbling up under the tranquility of his default setting.

But the thing that threw Kaoru off of his game was the behavior of the King. Kaoru had fully expected that, after Hikaru, Tamaki would be the most difficult to calm and contain. He'd prepared himself for wailing, weeping, and possibly a bit of bodily restraint. But after what was really a very mild meltdown (by the standards Kaoru was accustomed to) the boss had retreated quietly to his chair. He was sitting now, his hands tightly folded, and lavender eyes, drenched with worry, locked in the direction of the restrooms.

"Wow, Boss," Kaoru commented, giving Mori a pleading glance as he tried to coax Hunni back to the table. "You're awfully calm about all this."

"Do you really think that, after all these years, I've learned nothing?" Tamaki asked. "If I barge in there now, Haruhi will be angry, and she'll leave without telling us what's wrong."

Ah. So, in other words, the only thing holding Tamaki back from kicking in the door to the women's restroom was a healthy fear of Haruhi's wrath. Still, it was impressive that the Host King had even learned that much. Not so very long ago, he'd already be in there, vocalizing his concern loud enough to bring the roof down.

Kaoru had finally managed to get everyone back to the table, when Kyoya came strolling up. Instantly, Tamaki and Hikaru were on their feet again.

"Is Haruhi all right?" Tamaki asked.

"What's wrong with her?" Hikaru demanded.

Kyoya's face was filled with mild surprise as he slid into his seat.

"I didn't go after Haruhi," he said. "I had to make a phone call." He tapped the cell phone in his hand as evidence. "Are you that worried? I'm sure she's fine."

"That's what I was saying," Kaoru burst in with forced cheer. "I was just reminding them of the time Haruhi got sick, and didn't tell any of us. That's just the way she is."

He continued to ramble. It took another five minutes, in which both Tamaki and Hikaru hovered in worried indecision, before the two finally returned to their seats.

* * *

_Haruhi pressed her face against her desk, and let out a soft sigh. The cool wood felt great against her overheated skin. She'd woken up with a headache, a rolling stomach, and a warmth inside her flesh that hinted at a fever. Her dad had taken one look at her, and attempted to force her back into bed. But Haruhi was far too stubborn to be defeated by something as insignificant as an illness, and besides, she had a test today that she couldn't miss. _

_ But even stubbornness couldn't make the aches go away completely; nor could it banish the greasy ball of nausea building in her gut. So she sacrificed a couple minutes of precious study time, and allowed herself a brief respite in order to rebuild her determination._

_ "You look like crap."_

_ Haruhi suppressed, just barely, the groan brought forth by the chorus of identical voices above her head. She lifted her face from the cradle of her arms, and squinted bleary eyes at the twins._

_ The identical scowls decorating Hikaru and Kaoru's faces only deepened upon getting a glimpse of Haruhi's face. Her skin was completely pale, save for two bright flags of color waving on her cheeks. And her eyes, usually so bright and brimming with intelligence, were glassed over and terrifyingly blank. _

_"Thanks. You guys are the embodiment of tact, really."_

_ Even her voice was wrong. Instead of the dry and somewhat deadpan softness they were accustomed to, she sounded exhausted, completely drained. _

_ "Seriously Haruhi, you don't look so good," Kaoru said, dropping down in the seat next to hers. He studied her with great concern. "You should be at home, in your bed."_

_ A glimmer of Haruhi's smile danced across her face._

_ "And I'm guessing your next suggestion will be 'and why don't I join you?'" she said. "The pick-up lines never stop, do they?"_

_ "Hey, I'm serious. What could be so important to make you come here when you're clearly sick?"_

_ Haruhi shrugged, and that movement alone seemed to drain her._

_ "I have a test," she said weakly._

_ "For someone so smart, you can be really dumb sometimes," Hikaru snapped. He'd yet to sit down, and his golden eyes were bright with anger. "Only an idiot would push themselves too hard during an illness, and over a stupid test."_

_ His hands were shaking as he looked at her, and so he kept them fisted. He hated it; hated seeing her so defenseless, and weak, and wrong._

_ A dry chuckle whistled from between Haruhi's lips._

_ "Don't hold back," she invited, even as she dropped her head back on her arms. "Tell us how you really feel."_

_ "Hikaru," Kaoru murmured, and he brought himself to his feet and back to his brother's side. "You know how stubborn she is. She won't leave until after she takes the test. So let's just stick by her and make sure she doesn't push herself too hard. We can cart her home after it's done."_

_ "She won't like that either," Hikaru pointed out. But he relaxed, because Kaoru always soothed him._

_ Kaoru shrugged, and whatever lit inside his own eyes revealed just how unhappy he also was with the situation._

_ "Tough."_

_ Decision reached, the twins took to their posts on either side of Haruhi and crossed their arms protectively. She glanced up for a brief moment, blinking, and then reburied her head. _

_ Haruhi remembered taking the test, just barely. If anyone had asked her what was on it, however, she'd have been completely clueless. She remembered moving her pencil and trying to force her fever fried brain to function, but for all she knew, the questions could have been in Greek and she could have answered with detailed doodles of farm animals. _

_ Her memory got even hazier after the test was done. She recalled, very faintly, nodding off in every class afterwards, and being gently shaken by multiple hands. She had the vague impression of her head lolling onto an arm that wasn't hers, and that the owner of that arm had given a small jerk of surprise at the contact. She remembered moving, being tugged along by soft but insistent hands, and blinking at the carousel of colors and faces that spun around her. And she remembered more hands, on her forehead, pressed against her cheek, and supporting her back, and an increased chorus of voices that sang nonsense syllables in her ears. _

_ And then she remembered the absence of light and the feel of lying on something soft, and shivering despite the warmth draped over her. She comes back to herself a handful of times, fighting her way through the thick veils that seem to be draped inside her head for brief moments. _

_ The first time, there is a face hovering anxiously next to her own, brown eyes wide with worry. She wants to smile at him, and at the fact that he has his chin propped on whatever she's lying on. And at his back she sees the outline of a towering figure, and she wonders if she should be afraid. But no, his presence makes her feel safe and warm, despite her shivers._

_ "Look, Takashi, she's awake," that little face whispers. "How do you feel, Haru-chan?"_

_ But she's wrapped in the veils again before she can answer. The next time she manages to push them back, the little face and the tall shadow are gone. Replacing them are two pinpricks of light, reflecting in the gloom, and a soft scratching sound that makes a small and unexplainable smile curve her lips. The scratching sound stops, as if in response to that smile._

_ "You're running a very high fever, Haruhi," the voice is smooth, and soft, and it would make her smile bigger if her lips weren't too chapped to widen. "We've called your father. He's trying to find someone to cover his shift at work so that he can come and pick you up."_

_ No, don't, she wants to say. He's busy, so busy, don't bother him. But her throat feels swollen shut. _

_ There is a moment of silence._

_ "You don't need to worry," that voice finally says. "I won't be adding this day off to your debt." The scratching starts again. "Although, I really should."_

_ Haruhi's brow furrows, and the best she can manage to express her amusement is; "Tsh." _

_ She's gone, floating, and when she finds her way back, there are two again, and they have the same face. And one of them pounces the instant he sees that her eyes are open, and his words are familiar, because she heard something like them this morning._

_ "Idiot! How could you be so stupid, pushing yourself out of bed, all for a stupid test, and now look at you, you're freaking delirious, and you're just so __**stupid**__…"_

_ But his ranting doesn't make her angry, despite the fact that his hard words penetrate even the veils. Instead, she has the strangest urge to reach out, to touch his hand, and give him a smile. And she watches the other one shake his head, and she wants to smile at him too, for always being the gentler side of the same face. _

_ The hissed whispers of the rant fade from her ears, and when she comes back to herself again, someone actually is holding her hand. She makes some sort of inquisitive noise, forcing it from her aching throat, and another hand reaches up to cup her cheek. She almost flinches from it, because its cold, and she's cold, even though her skin is warm. But at the same time, she doesn't want that hand to leave._

_ "Don't worry, Haruhi," a voice whispers, a beautiful voice. "I'm here. I'll never leave you. None of us will."_

_ And for some reason, she wants to cry. Liar, she wants to say, and the tears build in her chest. You're such a liar. You will leave me, all of you, you'll leave me here alone. _

_ But she can't. Her throat is too thick, and too sore, and the veils wrap her up again before she can find another way to communicate. _

_ When Haruhi woke up the next morning, drenched with sweat and in her own bed, the memories of the day before were even fuzzier. Sorting through them, she couldn't separate reality from the fever dreams. Her dad forced her to stay home another day, but one was all he could manage. She was back the day after, and tottering around on feet that still weren't quite steady. _

_ The boys tried to help her, to support her so that she wouldn't fall. But she snapped at them with an anger that she didn't understand. They brushed it off, of course, but she sensed the confusion, and the faint hurt that her actions caused. _

_ But no matter how many times she snapped, shooting them hard words or shrugging off their outstretched hands, they always circled back to help her if they thought she needed it. And for some reason, that makes her even angrier than before. _

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………_._

Kaoru had just finished speaking when Haruhi returned from the restroom. The boys all jumped up at the sight of her, save for Kyoya, who surveyed her over the rim of his coffee cup instead.

"Are you all right, Haruhi?"

"Haru-chan, does your tummy still hurt?"

"Are you feeling any better?"

Haruhi's smile was soft, and strained, and did absolutely nothing to stifle the bonfire of worry rioting around the table.

"I already told you guys, I'm fine," she said. "It's just a stomach ache, like I said. But I am tired, and it's been a really long day, so I'm going to head home." Her brow arched, and a faint glimmer of her usual humor softened her eyes. "I'm sure I'll see you guys again before the break is over."

The protests were loud, and they were instant.

"Okay, I _so_ don't buy any of this!"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Haru-chan, Haru-chan, you're going to leave us already?"

"Hmmm."

But suddenly Tamaki was there, sliding in front of them with the grace and flourish of a ballet dancer.

"Of course! If my dear Haruhi is tired, then gentlemen, it is only proper that we let her rest." He reached out and took her hand in his. "I know that tonight will be lonely for you, without my lovely face to look upon, but take comfort in the fact that you'll bask in its glory again sooner than you think!"

Haruhi rolled her eyes and pinched the top of Tamaki's hand with her free fingers. He yelped and let her go.

"Yeah, I'm sure I will," she said. She shook her head, and gave them all a final smile. "Goodnight, you guys." She hesitated before saying; "It was great to see all of you again."

And then she was gone, disappearing out the door and into the frigid winter night. The boys rounded on Tamaki.

"Boss, how could you let her leave like that?" Hikaru asked. "We still don't know if she's okay!"

Tamaki shook his head.

"Haruhi's stubborn, but she looked well enough to walk four blocks. She'd just get mad if we tried to escort her, and she'd push us away. I'll call Ranka in a little bit to make sure she got home all right."

The Host King dropped back into his seat. He reached out with long fingers and captured another wrist, this time with a great deal more urgency.

"Now," he said, and Kyoya's glasses flashed at the sudden seriousness in his voice. "Tell us what's really going on."

* * *

_A/N: Kyoya didn't go after Haruhi...so who was he talking to? And if Haruhi hasn't been feeling well, why won't she let herself lean on the boys? Stay tuned to find out. Happy reading!_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: I didn't actually mean to update again so soon, but this one was sort of ripped out of me. Oh well, all the better for my lovely readers, right? Once again, a big thank you to all of you out there supporting this story! I adore each and every one of you (and especially my faithful reviewers!)._

_The flashback in this chapter is shorter, because the focus of this chapter is geared towards the action in the present. The flashbacks will continue, however...there's still a few things that need to be revealed!  
_

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori.  
_

**Don't Forget the Lesson**

"Now," he said, and Kyoya's glasses flashed at the sudden seriousness in his voice. "Tell us what's really going on."

Kyoya, the very picture of nonchalance, lifted his coffee cup to his lips with his free hand.

"And why would you assume that I would know anything about Haruhi's mystery illness?" he asked breezily. "We've been away at school together, after all. It's been as long between visits for me as it has been for you."

Tamaki's fingers tightened on Kyoya's wrist. Not as a threat; more like a physical plea.

"You're Kyoya," he said simply. "You always know." He waved his free hand behind him, to where the other Hosts were still hovering. "That's how this works."

"That's true, Kyo-chan!" Hunni cried, running up to Kyoya's seat. He flashed big, brimming brown eyes at the younger Host. "Won't you tell us, please?"

"The Boss is right," Kaoru said. "You always know."

Hikaru dropped into his seat and leaned across the table, in Kyoya's direction. His body language was the opposite of Tamaki's, radiating barely leashed violence instead of firm and desperate pleading.

"Yeah," he snapped. "Just who were you on the phone with, Kyoya-sempai? I find it hard to believe that you suddenly remembered some important business at the exact moment Haruhi ran for the bathroom."

"Mmm," Mori added, the sound full of agreement.

Irritated now, Kyoya shook off the fingers Tamaki had wrapped around his wrist.

"Fine, fine," he said. "It really isn't necessary to gang up on me."

He waved his hand, signaling that Hunni, Mori, and Kaoru should retake their seats. He waited until they complied to continue speaking.

"You all were aware that in high school, I ran background checks and compiled small files on each of the Host Club's clients," he said. "Once a member of the Host Club graduated, I did the same for them." Kyoya's glasses flashed again as he gave them a casual nudge up his nose. "For purely…sentimental reasons, of course."

"Of course," Hikaru and Kaoru said together, rolling their eyes.

Tamaki blinked, momentarily distracted.

"You mean…you have a file on me, Kyoya?" he asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, Tamaki. We go to the same school; I see you almost every day." Kyoya propped his chin in his hand. "Therefore, I have seven files on you."

Tamaki made a noise that suggested Kyoya had just bopped him in the face with a small hammer, and toppled out of his chair.

"Okay, so you have files on all of us," Hikaru said, blatantly ignoring the twitching Tamaki at his feet. "What does that have to do with Haruhi being sick?"

"Patience," Kyoya said with a small smile. "Because, out of all of us, Haruhi chose a school the furthest away, my file on her is the least extensive, and so my information on her life in the past year is fairly limited. However, in the past few months, I've noticed a disturbing trend in Haruhi's financial records."

"You keep track of our financial records?" Kaoru interrupted, his tone caught somewhere between appalled and impressed.

Kyoya shrugged.

"I barely skim them," he said carelessly. "They're more of a formality, really. But, as I said, even skimming Haruhi's records, I began to see a certain pattern in her spending habits. You see, for the past few months, Haruhi has been spending money at the University's local pharmacy."

"Maybe she was buying cold medicine," Hunni suggested innocently.

"Yeah," Hikaru agreed. "I don't really see why stopping by the pharmacy once a month should raise a red flag."

"You misunderstand," Kyoya said. "Haruhi hasn't been stopping by the pharmacy once a month, merely to replenish basic household medications. She started by going at least twice a month…and now her visits are weekly."

There was a brief moment of silence around the table.

"So that means that whatever medicine Haruhi is buying, her need for it has gotten worse over the past few months," Tamaki summarized grimly as he climbed back into his chair.

"Correct."

"Has she seen a doctor?" Hikaru demanded.

"Yeah, do you know if her medication is prescribed or not?" Kaoru added.

Kyoya shook his head.

"I'm afraid that I'm not privy to that information," he said. "I did call Haruhi's doctor, but the man refused to speak of medical history with anyone outside of the client."

Hikaru dragged a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Couldn't you just threaten him?" he snapped. "You know, like you did to Kasanoda after he figured out Haruhi's secret?"

"The doctor and I spoke for a very long time," Kyoya said, and his voice went soft and smooth. "And I made sure that he was very aware of my position, in relation to Haruhi as well as within my family. But he still refused."

"Oh man," Kaoru said, reading the look on Kyoya's face. "What did you do to him?"

"Kyo-chan, Kyo-chan, you didn't get the nice doctor man fired did you?" Hunni wailed.

"I made sure that the hospital where he worked gave him a raise," Kyoya said blandly. "Loyalty is an honorable quality, especially in someone so many people trust, such as a doctor."

Another beat of silence, in which Kyoya ignored the five sets of eyes locked on his face and took another sip of coffee.

"So, you couldn't gain access to Haruhi's medical records," Tamaki said, bringing the conversation back to its point of origin. "Then who were you on the phone with?"

Kyoya set his cup carefully on the table.

"During our visit, I watched Haruhi carefully for clues regarding her illness. I am in medical school, after all. It only took me twenty minutes to ascertain what her symptoms meant. The phone call I made was to _my_ family doctor, to confirm my suspicions."

"So then…you do know what's wrong with Haruhi?" Tamaki asked.

Kyoya shot him a small smile.

"Of course," he replied. "As you said, that is how this works."

* * *

Haruhi was exhausted. Something about being with the boys, especially after so many months of separation, just drained her (she refused to credit her extreme tiredness to anything else). And the walk home hadn't exactly helped, although the four block hike in the cool winter air had gone a long way to easing the grinding in her gut.

"Haruhi!" her father cried the moment she stepped through the door. "My darling daughter, you're home! Did you have a nice time with all of your adorable boys?"

Haruhi wished she could summon up more than a sleepy smile at her dad's fluttering. He was overjoyed to have her home, she knew, and she wanted to let him know that she was just as glad to see him. But really, she was ready to drop.

"They're not my boys, Dad," she said. "And yeah, I guess it was sort of nice to see them all again." Her brow furrowed, just a little, as she unwound her scarf and hung it by the door. "They're all different. Not a lot, but just enough to be noticeable."

"Well, that's what happens when you go your separate ways for so long!" Ranka said cheerfully.

For some reason, that made Haruhi's spine stiffen as she bent to remove her shoes.

"Right," she said after a moment's pause. "Anyway, it was fun, but I'm really tired. I think I'm going to go to bed."

She hung her coat on top of her scarf, and began walking towards her bedroom. Her father's voice stopped her.

"Haruhi."

She turned, immediately concerned. Her dad's voice didn't sound like that often, so serious, and soft. So she made sure to pay attention every time she heard it.

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Ranka asked. "I know I haven't always been the best parent, but I am here for you. Always."

For a moment, Haruhi could only stare, stunned by the sudden stinging in her eyes. And then she mustered up another smile.

"Don't be ridiculous, Dad," she said. "You're the best father anyone could ever ask for." She ducked her head a little. "And I know…that you're always there for me."

Ranka smiled.

"Good. Well, goodnight then, sweetheart."

"Night, Dad."

Haruhi went into her room and slid the door shut at her back. She cast a brief and weary glance at the text books she had stacked in the corner, but a sudden pang in her stomach, more of a memory, really, made her shake her head. Tomorrow, she could get up bright and early and make up for all the study time she lost tonight.

So instead, Haruhi donned her pajamas and tucked herself into bed. She tossed for a moment; thrown off by the unfamiliar softness of the mattress (the dormitory beds were like bricks). But then she slipped into a sound and silent sleep.

And in her sleep, she dreamed.

* * *

_In the second month of Haruhi's first year at college, a thunderstorm settled over the University. Haruhi had known it was coming; she'd been watching the approaching black clouds apprehensively all day. But that didn't make the knot in her stomach, or the greasy slide of panic in her throat, any less when the first crack of thunder sounded. _

_ Thankfully, each student was provided with a wardrobe inside their dorm room, and seeing as how Haruhi's selection of clothes was pitifully limited, she had just enough space to climb inside._

_ The look on her roommate's face that Haruhi had glimpsed just before she shut the doors would have been absolutely hilarious under almost any other circumstances._

_ She knew it was stupid, and certainly something she should have been able to cast aside, especially now that she was officially an adult and living away from home. But the unexplainable panic inside of her didn't seem to care that she was now eighteen, and therefore a legal grown-up. The second it heard the thunder, and saw the white hot flash of lighting outside the window, it demanded that she get up, get down, and get inside the closet. _

_ What made Haruhi feel even more foolish was the fact that she actually brought the cell phone the Hitaachin's had given her inside the wardrobe._

_ She supposed that she'd gotten accustomed to the people around her knowing about her thunderstorm phobia. She'd gotten used to getting a phone call, or an actual visit, at the first sign of cloudy skies. So even though she knew it was ridiculous, considering the fact that most of them lived in different parts of Japan now, and that it would be ridiculous for them to keep track of the weather conditions in her area, a tiny part of Haruhi still hoped that one of them might call, and that she could hear that now familiar sound of a soothing voice. _

_ The thunderstorm went on for two hours, and Haruhi spent the entirety of it shut up inside the wardrobe, secretly hoping that the phone would ring._

_ When it was over, and Haruhi reemerged into the empty room (her roommate had left shortly after Haruhi had barricaded herself inside the closet, no doubt scared stiff by Haruhi's display of insanity), Haruhi looked down at the phone in her hand. It appeared so harmless, really, just a jumble of wires and technology. _

_ In actuality, it represented something much greater, something Haruhi had forgotten up until now. A lesson. _

_ Haruhi stared at it for a while, running the plastic over and over between her fingers. Eventually, she hit the power button, and then dropped the phone inside a desk drawer that she never opened. _

_ It would be better if she couldn't see it, she reasoned, as she shut the drawer firmly. If it was out of sight, then she couldn't forget again, the thing her mother's death had taught her once before._

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………_._

The doorbell chimed early the next afternoon, startling Haruhi out of her intense study session. She'd been true to her word, and had forced herself out of bed early in order to reclaim the time she'd lost last night. And since her dad had picked up the early shift at the bar, there had been no one there to try and coax her back to sleep.

Rubbing her tired eyes, Haruhi yawned as she made her way towards the door. Maybe if she got through all the material in the next hour or so, she could squeeze in a quick nap before starting dinner. But she'd really have to power through in order for that to happen.

Her stomach gave a sullen twinge at the mention of dinner, reminding her that she hadn't filled it since last night.

Ignoring it, Haruhi swung open the door. The sight on the other side was familiar enough, but since she was still a little raw from her dream the night before, Haruhi couldn't quite muster the secret amusement that usually accompanied her exasperation.

"Hi, guys," she said. "I guess I should have been expecting this."

She started to ask what they wanted, but a closer look at their faces made the words wither on her tongue. With the exception of the time she'd almost drowned during their trip to the beach, she had never seen those six faces so grim.

"Uh…guys?" she said.

Tamaki took a step forward and tried to smile, but it didn't reach his lavender eyes.

"Hello, Haruhi," he said. "May we come in?"

Haruhi clung to the door, wondering at the sudden, irrational fear sprinting up her spine.

"Actually, Sempai, I was just finishing up some homework," she said. "And then I have to start dinner. Maybe another time, okay?"

Tamaki reached out and caught the edge of the door before she could slam it shut. Haruhi blinked dumbly down at his hand, and then up at his face. With all of his chivalry and decorum, she would never have expected such an action out of Tamaki.

"Sempai?"

Tamaki's next words were flat, and they stripped Haruhi down.

"We know what you've been hiding, Haruhi. And we're not going away until we talk to you about it."

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger! But I had to do it, for the sake of the story's natural progression. I promise to update again this week, and until then, I will dodge all sharp objects thrown in my direction without complaint. In the next chapter, Haruhi's mystery illness is finally revealed! But what does that have to do with the lesson she never should have forgotten? Stay tuned to find out. Happy Reading!_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: Thanks for waiting, everyone! As promised, here is the next chapter. And I only had to dodge one pair of scissors. I really struggled with this chapter, surprisingly, so I hope it doesn't disappoint. Thanks again to all of my amazing readers/reviewers. you guys rock!_

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori.  
_

**Bitterness Buried Deep**

"We know what you've been hiding, Haruhi. And we're not going away until we talk to you about it."

Haruhi blinked again. Once. Twice. She tilted her head in obvious confusion.

Finally, she said; "Hiding? I'm not hiding anything, Sempai."

A look that was almost pained crossed Tamaki's face, and his hand only tightened on the door.

"Please don't insult our intelligence, Haruhi," he said softly. "We could all tell that something was wrong at the coffee shop last night."

"Sempai, I really have _no clue_ what you're talking about…"

Kyoya took a step forward, cutting Haruhi off mid-word as he moved to flank Tamaki's right side.

"Haruhi," he interjected smoothly. "This really is a conversation that is better off being held indoors. We have some questions, questions of a rather personal nature, to pose to you. Now, you know us well enough to understand that we'll ask them regardless of the environment. Do you really want your neighbors to hear what we have to say?"

Despite herself, Haruhi faltered back a step. She was still baffled, and just bordering on the edge of extreme annoyance, but that unexplainable fear was also still stiffening her spine. And for whatever reason, Kyoya's words took that hard line of tension and tightened it all the more.

"All right," she said, after a moment's pause. "You guys can come in."

Tamaki's face lightened with relief. That sense of shocked intimidation faded as his hand slid off the door, and made way for Haruhi's annoyance to swim to the surface.

"But you're not staying," she snapped, at all of them, but especially Tamaki. "I'll give you three minutes to explain yourselves. But then you have to leave."

They all nodded. Haruhi took another step back and widened the door, and they all filed in. They tried to smile at her as they passed, but the strain on their faces was evident.

"Well?" Haruhi demanded, crossing her arms and burning them all with an inquisitive glare.

From where they stood, grouped together barely inside the entryway, they exchanged glances.

"Can we…sit down?" Tamaki asked.

"Fine."

She led them to the little room with the table. They gathered around it like they had all those years ago, when they'd all but dropkicked their way into Haruhi's home (and her heart) during their first visit. And once everyone was comfortable, Haruhi looked around again, searching each face for answers.

No one said a word. Haruhi briefly considered ripping out what little hair she had, and then silently decided that banging all of their pretty heads together would be much more satisfying.

"So, is anyone going to talk?" she asked. "Because the clock is ticking, and to be honest, I don't have the patience for this today."

Another beat of silence, and then Tamaki leaned forward.

"Haruhi," he said hesitantly. "Why didn't you tell us about your illness?"

"Illness?" Haruhi repeated blankly. "I don't have an illness. Oh, is this about last night?" A dark scowl tugged Haruhi's lips down. "Please tell me you guys didn't drag yourselves all the way over here because of that."

"We're worried about you," Kaoru interjected gently. "We know that it goes back further than last night."

Haruhi shook her head.

"Okay, I know that you guys are seriously prone to overreaction, but it was just a stomach ache."

She turned and pinned Tamaki with a lethal glare. All of the boys shivered violently upon seeing it, out of fear and sympathy for their sovereign. Haruhi's anger was rare, but when it was unleashed, it rivaled the very forces of hell.

"You did this, didn't you?" she demanded. "You got everyone worked up with a ridiculous story about me wasting away from some disease."

"No!" Tamaki squeaked, doing his best not to wither away under the weight of Haruhi's glare.

"Haru-chan, please hear us out," Hunni interjected, his little face pleading.

Kyoya folded his hands.

"It wasn't necessary for Tamaki to drum up one of his delusions," he said. "As previously stated, it was fairly obvious to all of us that something was wrong."

"It. Was. Just. A. Stomach. Ache."

"Have you eaten today, Haruhi?"

Kyoya's question, delivered with such cool and calm, completely knocked Haruhi off the beaten path.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

Kyoya merely rested his chin on his folded hands.

"Perhaps nothing," he said breezily. "Perhaps everything. It all depends on your answer, really."

Haruhi took a moment to mutter under her breath.

"Well…no, I haven't," her admittance was immediately followed by a slew of defensive sputtering. "But I've been really busy! I was studying all day, and I lost track of time!"

"Or perhaps, you've been avoiding food, because it only serves to agitate the pain in your stomach," Kyoya suggested evenly. "And that avoidance of food would explain the five pounds, roughly, that you've lost since we saw you last."

Haruhi ignored the prickle of unease that danced across the back of her neck at Kyoya's eerily accurate diagnosis, and rubbed a hand over her face instead.

"I know that you're in medical school, Kyoya-sempai," she said. "But I think that reading all of those medical journals is making you jump at shadows."

"On the contrary," Kyoya countered. "Reading all of those medical journals allowed me to properly diagnose your symptoms as soon as I saw them."

"I don't have symptoms," Haruhi insisted. "There's nothing wrong with me."

The other boys watched, their heads swinging back and forth as if they were observing a heated and high-paced tennis match.

"Oh, really?"

Kyoya's voice dropped, became something that resembled a croon. Haruhi almost flinched at the sound of it. She'd heard that tone before; she knew exactly what it meant. Kyoya only sounded like that right before he completely demolished the person he happened to be debating with. It was sort of like his warning shot, his way of letting his opponent know that he was about to absolutely flatten them, very politely, of course.

"Allow me to compose a little list," he continued, in that same silken, dangerously pleasant purr. "If at any point it does not apply to you, feel free to stop me. Stomach aches that grind like hunger pangs, but that only get worse upon eating. Nausea and various abdominal pains in between meals. A loss of appetite, accompanied by a correlating loss of weight."

"….What's your point?"

Kyoya's glasses flashed triumphantly.

"Ah, so I was more or less accurate. I guess that reading those medical journals wasn't a waste of time after all. I just have one more question, Haruhi. Has your life up at the University been particularly stressful in any way?"

Haruhi shrugged uncomfortably.

"Not particularly," she muttered. "I mean, I did test into some higher lever classes. And to take them all, I had to get special permission to exceed the maximum credit load. And I guess my internship at the law firm keeps me pretty busy. And then there's the part-time tutoring job I took to make a little pocket money." She trailed off, a little stunned by the sudden fury painting the six faces before her. She shrank back a bit in the presence of it, before her defensiveness came roaring in to save her. "But I haven't been stressed! I just…have a lot I want to accomplish!"

"I've never faulted your work ethic, Haruhi," Kyoya said calmly, even though there was still the faintest edge of anger in his grey eyes. "Nor have I ever doubted your intelligence. So why don't you put it together for me? What could all the things you just listed lead to?"

Haruhi pieced together everything Kyoya had pointed out during their little debate. A light clicked on behind her eyes.

"I do not have an ulcer," she said, her voice flat and final.

There was a quick intake of breath around the table, made up of both relief that Haruhi had figured it out, and concern over her immediate and absolute inability to accept the obvious.

"A gastric ulcer," Kyoya corrected, without missing a beat. "Inside your stomach. Brought about by stress, and getting worse every day that you don't seek treatment."

Tamaki reached out, his violet eyes soft.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Haruhi," he said. "Kyoya tells us that it's fairly common in people who work as hard as you do. What we need to focus on now is getting you better."

Haruhi slid her hand away from Tamaki's. She didn't jerk it back, just shifted it away so that his palm met the table instead of her flesh. She didn't want the warm, comforting weight of that palm. Not like this, when it was reaching for the wrong reason.

"I don't have an ulcer," she repeated. "I guess it's kind of nice that you guys were so worried about me, and I'm sorry that you came all the way down here for this. But I'm fine, really."

Even Haruhi was surprised by the blank, overly polite tone rolling out of her mouth. It was the voice she used when addressing strangers. So what was it doing here?

Hunni clasped his hands together tightly.

"Please, Haru-chan!" he begged. "Let us take care of you! I don't want you to be sick!"

Haruhi's answering smile was as vacant as it was reassuring.

"There's nothing for you to be so worried about, Hunni-sempai."

"I don't GET IT! How can someone so smart be so incredibly STUPID sometimes?!"

Hikaru had been silent up till now, mostly because he was afraid that the rage clawing at the back of his throat like a barely leashed animal would come spewing out of his mouth if he spoke. So he'd sat, and he'd hidden his golden eyes so that no one could see the fury simmering inside of them.

But hearing Haruhi's denial, and the pleasant, dismissive tone of her voice, just _broke_ him. It snapped the leash and let out everything he'd worked so hard to contain.

He was on his feet, and he didn't remember getting there. And he was still yelling, loud enough to rattle the window panes.

"You're such an _idiot!_ Of course you're going to get sick, with a workload like that! And now you won't even get treated for it, even after you admitted to all the symptoms yourself! What are you trying to do, work yourself to _death?_"

"And if I was, why should it matter to you?"

Haruhi's words dropped into the room like rocks. Her voice was quiet, and so they carried a great deal more weight than Hikaru's shouts. The contrast between the two sent everyone reeling.

"You left, remember? We all did. We're not a part of each other's lives anymore. So why should it matter to you what my workload is like, or if I'm sick?"

Hikaru's golden eyes dilated, and all the color drained from his face. Kaoru couldn't see it from where he was sitting, but he could sense it, and so he rose immediately to his brother's side. Identical hands caught and clasped, seeking and receiving comfort.

"Perhaps I was wrong in what I said earlier," Kyoya murmured into the heavy, heavy silence. "Maybe I should have questioned your intelligence."

Tamaki rose to his feet as well. His golden hair had fallen over his face, shadowing his violet eyes.

"I know that you aren't being cruel on purpose," he said softly. "I know you, Haruhi, well enough to know that you wouldn't do that."

His voice held absolutely no hint of drama, and it was all the more heartbreaking because of it. And because that pain wasn't something Haruhi wanted to feel, she lashed out at it instead.

"And what if you _don't_, Sempai?" she asked, and her voice was blistering. "What if you don't know me anymore? Or maybe, you never did."

"No." Tamaki raised his head, and his violet eyes, although shining with sadness, were also tiger bright with determination. "I do know you, Haruhi. I understand what this is. You're angry with the Host Club, for not being there when you needed us. This is our punishment."

Something in the way he spoke, the quiet conviction, set off an answering alarm of truth within Haruhi's mind. And it made her see red.

"I don't need any of you!" she snapped. "I can get along just fine on my own."

"Yes, I know," Tamaki said. "We all do. You've always gone to great lengths to prove just how much you don't need any of us. But I thought we had gotten past that. There was a time, not too long ago, that you wouldn't have hesitated to tell one of us about your illness. What changed, Haruhi?" Tamaki took a step forward. "When did you stop trusting us to be there?"

"When I figured out that you were all going to leave!"

The words were out before Haruhi could stop them. Appalled, she touched a hand to her mouth, wishing for all the world that she could snatch that sentence back.

Sounds of confusion echoed around the table. Only Tamaki continued to stare her down, his eyes soft with understanding. Haruhi hated it, couldn't stand to see it.

"You need to go," she said, hating herself for the flush she could feel filling her cheeks. "I gave you your three minutes."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Hikaru took a step forward, and because he refused to relinquish his hold on Kaoru's hand, his brother moved with him. "We can't go yet! What you said before, what did you mean?"

Haruhi pinned her eyes to the floor and crossed her arms protectively around her waist.

"There's a lesson that I learned from Mom," she said slowly. "An important one. And you guys made me forget it for a while. But I remember now."

"From everything I've learned about your mother," Tamaki said. "I refuse to believe that this is a lesson she would have wished to impart."

She wouldn't look, she wouldn't. She didn't want to see it anymore, the baffled hurt and the pained confusion.

"Yeah, well, it's something she taught me after she was already gone."

"I see."

The silence was long, and it was awkward. Haruhi refused to acknowledge it, and continued to stare at the scars decorating her wooden floor. She could feel the weight of the questions they wanted to ask all the way across the room. They sat on her shoulders like bricks, dragging her down. She wanted them out, wanted them gone, before she bent under the strain of it.

As if he sensed this, Tamaki sighed.

"All right, Gentlemen," he said. "Haruhi is correct; we've taken up far more than the time she so graciously set aside for us. We should allow her to continue with her day."

The protests were instant, and they were mostly from Hikaru. Haruhi lifted her face just enough to see Tamaki slice a hand through the air, effectively cutting them off.

"Tamaki is right," Kyoya cut in. "It's time for us to go."

The relief sprinted up Haruhi's spine, made her want to gasp for air.

"But we'll be back," Tamaki added gently. "I think you know that, right Haruhi?"

"Yeah, sure," Haruhi said. She was so close to having them gone. "Just go, please."

"As you wish."

They filed out silently. Haruhi shut her eyes as Hunni passed, sniffling sadly, and refused to open them even when she heard Kaoru coaxing Hikaru along. Only Tamaki actually paused by her side.

"We'll return in twenty-four hours," he said quietly. "If you haven't seen a doctor by then, I'll have Kyoya tell your father about the situation. Please, Haruhi, don't shut us out. We will always be here for you, whether you believe it or not."

And then he was gone. She heard the door open, and shut, and she was finally alone, blessedly alone, in an empty apartment, with only her steadily souring stomach and an echoing promise to return to keep her company.

* * *

_This chapter is dedicated to tuNGaw-GiRL, for figuring it out :)_

_A/N: Uh-oh...what did Haruhi mean? What's really making her so stubborn and so sad? What was the lesson she learned from her mother's death? And what about that gaping hole in her stomach? Stay tuned to find out. Happy reading!_


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N: I'm back, and with a crazy long chapter, nonetheless. Let me address something quick; I got asked in a lot of reviews why Mori didn't appear at all in the last chapter. Let me assure you all that I honestly didn't mean for that to happen! As I stated before, the previous chapter was hard for me to write, for whatever reason, and so I did a lot of editing. Without realizing it, I accidently chopped out all of Mori's movement within the chapter. But rest assured that he is back, better than ever :)_

_Thanks again to all of my wonderful reviewers/readers. You guys have been amazingly awesome! Your feedback keeps me going. Be sure to stick around after the chapter for another Author's Note...it's relevant to the plot_

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori.  
_

**The Road Away From Here**

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, the male members of the Host Club found themselves seated inside the coffee shop not far from Haruhi's apartment. The only variation from last night's visit was the lack of a certain female member. Her absence was profoundly felt, as clear and painful as a sword through the side.

Almost an hour had passed since the scene in Haruhi's apartment. The argument, and the fallout that followed, was etched onto every one of the six male faces. Even Mori, who's face most often reflected nothing in particular, looked rocked by it. The decision to retire to the coffee shop, instead of to separate corners to lick various wounds, was a unanimous, and almost silent one. For a brief moment, after Haruhi's door had shut behind them, there had been nothing but silence. Then, Tamaki had spoken seven words.

"Come on, Men. Let's go somewhere quiet."

And they'd followed him, off of Haruhi's property, and all the way to the coffee shop. But the quiet hadn't gotten any louder over the course of the four mile hike. The boys sat in the midst of a bustling crowd, but no one spoke. Coffee had been ordered, but the cups sat untouched on the tabletop. Even Hunni's cake, ordered out of habit, was completely intact. And it was he, ultimately, who broke the silence.

"Tama-chan? Are you really going to make Kyo-chan tell Haru-chan's dad about her ulcer?"

Tamaki looked over, almost startled by the sudden sound in the silence, and then sighed.

"Only as a last resort, Hunni-sempai," he said. "I sincerely hope that it doesn't come to that."

Hikaru scrubbed his hands over his eyes. He'd always been the biggest failure at hiding his emotions; his feelings wrote themselves across his face like the words in a book. And at the moment, the hurt and the confusion he was feeling were so clear that the other boys could have read them out loud.

"I don't get it," he said, quietly. "Why is she being so stubborn? And what did she mean by saying that we're not a part of each other's lives?"

"Haru-chan made it sound like she doesn't want to be friends anymore," Hunni said, and his voice wavered dangerously. Mori leaned forward and rested a comforting hand on the smaller boy's shoulder.

"I don't think that's what she meant," Tamaki said gently. "As I said before, I don't think Haruhi intended to be cruel. She's always been able to justify the fact that she holds us all at a distance."

"Because of the lesson," Kaoru added quietly.

Golden eyes locked on to Tamaki's face with perfect understanding. The Host Club King nodded, his lips curving in a very tiny smile.

"Exactly right. Because of the lesson."

"What lesson?" Hikaru snapped. "She never explained that either!"

"Through my periodic phone conversations with Ranka, I was able to discern that Haruhi wasn't born with such an independent spirit," Kyoya said. "It only developed after her mother's death."

Kyoya tapped his fingers against the cover of his black book as he spoke. He hadn't recorded today's events yet. Like the others, he had very little desire to relive such an unpleasant experience so soon after its initial completion.

"So?" Hikaru asked, but there was no hostility in his voice, only honest confusion.

"The death of her mother left a deeper impact on Haruhi than the one she shows," Kyoya said. "She may seem well-adjusted, but in fact, Haruhi still uses her mother's death as a yardstick in her daily life."

"She pushes people away with it," Tamaki added softly. "Haruhi was very close to her mother; there was a great deal of love between the two of them. And after she died, Haruhi realized that no amount of love can stop a person from being taken away. So Haruhi decided, even if only subconsciously, to never allow someone so close again. It's the only way the pain of loss can be avoided, really."

Because Kaoru knew that Hikaru wasn't ready to be touched, he wrapped his fingers around his coffee cup instead, seeking a little comfort from the warmth.

"But Haruhi messed up," he said, continuing Tamaki's thought. "We got to her, all of us, and she let us get way closer than she ever intended."

"And then we all left." Mori's voice dropped, thick and heavy, into the conversation. "And proved Haruhi's point for her."

"So she decided to push us away once she left for college," Hikaru summarized, as the meaning behind the lesson sank into his brain.

Tamaki shook his head.

"No," he countered. "It started long before that. Don't you guys remember what she said last night?"

* * *

_"Takashi and I graduated not much later," Hunni added, and his little boy voice was sad. "So, a lot of things changed after that."_

_Haruhi pushed her plate away._

_"__Everything__ changed after that," she corrected quietly._

* * *

"Haruhi started pulling away long before all of us were even gone."

Kyoya nodded in agreement.

"Even though it was only Mori-sempai and Hunni-sempai that graduated that day," he said, "Haruhi saw it as a reminder."

The sadness was back, spanning Tamaki's face full-force, as he gazed into his coffee cup.

"The changes were subtle," he said. "And the process itself was a gradual one. But Haruhi's been moving away from us for a long time."

* * *

_"Haruhi!"_

_ The slim brunette studying at a secluded table in the first floor Ouran library barely looked up as Tamaki dropped into the seat next to her. _

_ "Not so loud, Tamaki-sempai. This is a library, you know."_

_ Tamaki puffed up instantly._

_ "Of course I know!" he protested, in an even louder voice. "Are you implying that I don't understand basic library etiquette?"_

_ The look Haruhi finally spared him was as dry as dust._

_ "I'd never imply that." She stretched her arms back behind her head, working out the kinks of her study session. "What are you doing down here?"_

_ Tamaki tapped his watch._

_ "It's a quarter past three," he said. "The Host Club was supposed to meet fifteen minutes ago. Kyoya sent me to look for you." Tamaki reached out with earnest hands and snatched up Haruhi's fingers. "Daddy was so very worried!"_

_ Haruhi rolled her eyes and tugged her fingers out of Tamaki's enthusiastic grip. _

_ "Sorry, Sempai," she said. "I guess I just lost track of time."_

_ She began to gather up her books, stacking them into neat piles._

_ "Lost track of time?" Tamaki repeated. "That's not like you, Haruhi. And especially on such an important day!"_

_ "Important day?"_

_ "Today is Kasanoda and Chicka's first day as official Host Club Members," Tamaki reminded her. _

_ "Oh. Right."_

_ Tamaki watched as she stuffed the piles of books into her bag. Something was prickling along the back of his neck, a sensation that he couldn't quite place._

_ "Haruhi…," he ventured. "You do like Chicka, and Kasanoda. Right?"_

_ The look Haruhi shoot him under from under her bangs was filled with confusion, and the faintest hint of something else._

_ "What? That's a stupid question, Sempai. Of course I do."_

_ Tamaki held out his hands in a placating fashion._

_ "You just seem a bit…distant when you're around them," he spluttered defensively. "That's all."_

_ Haruhi hooked her bag around her shoulders._

_ "You're imagining things again," she said. "Maybe you should let Kyoya-sempai have a look at your brain."_

_ Tamaki shuddered delicately. _

_ "No, thank you," he said, with great conviction. "Besides, there's nothing in my brain that he doesn't already have written down in that book of his."_

_ Haruhi laughed._

_ "True." She hitched her bag up a little higher. "Come on, Sempai. Let's not keep the ladies waiting."_

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………_._

"I didn't recognize it then," Tamaki said. "But the emotion in Haruhi's eyes that day, the one I couldn't place. It was guilt."

"She never really warmed up to Chicka," Kaoru recalled. "Not like she did with Hunni-sempai."

"And that air of friendliness she'd always had with Kasanoda evaporated over time," Hikaru added thoughtfully. "Poor guy. He was upset about it for weeks."

"It was more noticeable with them," Tamaki said, "Because they were new to the group. But she was distancing herself from us as well."

Kyoya nudged his glasses up his nose.

"By the time Tamaki and I left for college, she was barely a functioning member of the Host Club anymore," he said. "She enrolled in several college preparation courses, and so she was unable to attend the club more than three times a week."

"And the only events she attended were the ones we dragged her to," Hikaru added.

Hunni pushed his cake around his plate.

"I tried emailing her a whole bunch," he said sadly. "But after Haru-chan graduated, she stopped responding."

"And she turned off the cell phone we gave her," Kaoru said. "Hikaru and I tried calling her, but it always went straight to voicemail. Eventually, we got a notice that it had been deactivated." He shook his head. "She cut us out of her life, for her own protection. I wonder if she even would have shown up yesterday if the Boss hadn't threatened to kidnap any no-shows."

Hikaru scowled at his reflection inside his coffee cup.

"Yeah, she cut us out," he agreed bitterly. "And look where it got her. Overworked, overtired, and with a nice little hole in her stomach."

Hunni made a little sound, a sad and desperate sort of cry.

"We can't let Haru-chan leave us!"

Mori, who still had a soothing hand settled on the boy's shoulder, locked eyes with Tamaki.

"Mitsukuni," he said softly. "We won't."

"But what are we supposed to do now?" the smaller boy asked in a quivering voice.

Tamaki's hand tightened on his cup.

"We keep our promise," he said, almost to himself. "We have to show her that we're here. That we won't leave her. Not ever again."

* * *

It was an unfamiliar feeling for Haruhi, to bury a problem deep inside. She'd always been one to confront her troubles head on, facing them with both guns cocked and fully loaded.

But her confrontation with the boys left her frozen, stranded in the wasteland of agonized indecision. Every movement felt like the wrong one, and so she stood completely still. Telling her dad about her problem would be admitting that she had one, which she obviously didn't. But if she stayed silent, the boys had promised that they'd speak for her. Try as she might, Haruhi couldn't find a way out of the murky quagmire she'd somehow become lost in.

So, instead of acting, Haruhi buried. She shoved all thoughts of the boys, and her confrontation with them, way down deep. She smiled at her father during dinner like nothing was wrong, and she retired to her room early, to catch some time with her study materials.

By dinner time the next day, Haruhi had almost convinced herself that the whole ordeal was over. Whatever wild hair the boys had been riding had worn itself out, and they were giving her some time to cool off before they came over to apologize. She'd let them of course. And then she'd let them leave.

Giving her bangs an idle brush out of her eyes, Haruhi gave the stew pot she was preparing another brisk stir. Her father wasn't due home from his shift at work for another little while yet, but the dish needed time to simmer.

The second the doorbell rang, her stomach plummeted down to her sock-clad feet. She recovered quickly, telling herself that even if it was them, they'd probably come to apologize. But all her rationalizing didn't prevent the knots in her gut from twisting when she opened the door and saw those same six faces.

"What do you guys want?" she asked.

Tamaki gave her a gentle smile.

"Hello, Haruhi. We told you we'd be back."

"Yeah, you guys are making a real habit of this." Charitably, she swung the door open a little wider. If they were going to grovel, they might as well do it indoors. "Come on in."

"Thank you."

They all trooped inside, in an exact parody of yesterday. The comparison made a light sweat break out on Haruhi's back.

"I don't have a lot of time," she said. "My dad will be home soon, and I'm just finishing up dinner. So let's make this quick."

She folded her arms across her chest. Tapped her foot. Any second now, they were going to apologize. Any second.

"Have you considered the ultimatum we gave you yesterday?" Kyoya asked politely. "Are you going to tell your father, or are we?"

All the little barriers, the blocks, the piles of dirt she'd heaped over yesterday's confrontation exploded into glittery bits of confetti.

"You can't be serious," she said. "I thought that you guys would have come to your senses by now."

"And we thought the same of you," Tamaki countered quietly.

"This is ridiculous! I'll say it one more time; try to let it penetrate your thick skulls. And then I am booting you guys out. I. Am. _Not_-"

A hand shot out, lighting fast. Two fingers drilled, with relentless pressure, into her stomach, just below her breastbone. Not hard, because Haruhi knew he would never hurt her intentionally, but with enough force to get his point across.

The pain was instant, and it was brutal. It ripped through her gut, and traveled all the way up her spine so that it could echo inside her skull.

Haruhi's knees went weak, and she slumped forward. At once, hands reached out to catch her. Breathing hard and fast, and leaning despite herself, Haruhi stared, in absolute shock, up into Mori's face.

Of course. How very like him. Why waste words when he could get his point across with an action instead?

"How much longer do you plan to fight us on this, Haruhi?" Tamaki asked.

"You know we're right," Hikaru said, a gentle snap in her ear. "Quit being so stubborn."

"Okay, that's it." Haruhi wished that her voice was just a little bit stronger, but the pain was still forcing her to take deep and even breaths. "Seriously, you guys need to get out-"

"Haruhi!"

The door burst open on a cheerful cry. Haruhi watched with mild horror as her father danced through the entryway, only to stop dead when he took in the scene before him. His spinning steps stopped, and his fluttering hands stilled.

"Haruhi?" he said again, with a great deal more concern his time. "Boys? What's going on?" Ranka took a step forward. "Is something wrong?"

* * *

_A/N: Uh-oh! Ranka's stumbled upon Haruhi's little secret. Will his daughter spill the beans, or will the boys have to do it for her? And how can they convince her that she needs them in her life? Stay tuned to find out._

_And now for that special add-on I promised: I'm going to be opening up a poll on my profile page. I already know how this story is going to play out, but I'm curios as to who my readers want Haruhi to end up with. Cast your vote, and the winning Host Club members might be in for something special later in the story. _

_Happy Reading!  
_


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N: Hello, my lovely readers! I apologize for the wait, but as I said on a different story post, I've been struggling with a rather nasty flu virus. But I'm all better now, and eager to continue the story! Thanks again to all of my amazing reveiwers/readers. You guys humble me with your attention. I love you all! The poll on my profile is closed now; watch for the results in the following chapter.  
_

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori.  
_

**And It All Comes Tumbling Down**

"Haruhi?" he said again, with a great deal more concern this time. "Boys? What's going on?" Ranka took a step forward. "Is something wrong?"

For a moment, no one moved. Frozen on the spot, their facial expressions ranging from shock, to dread, and everything in between, they looked like actors caught in one of the horrible soap operas Ranka loved so much.

Then, self-preservation kicked in, and Haruhi gave the hands holding her up a hard slap. She stumbled out of the arms surrounding her, and thanked whatever deity was listening that the pain in her stomach had lessened enough for her to stand. Her attempt at bravado would have been ruined completely if she'd pushed the boys away, only to fall face-first onto the floor.

Still, her smile shook a little, and she hoped that her father wouldn't notice the way she braced a shoulder against the wall.

"Everything's fine, Dad," she said. "Just a little Host Club drama." Haruhi shot a single, burning glare at the six boys standing behind her, letting them know without words that her easy tone in no way meant they were forgiven. "They were just leaving, anyway."

Ranka wasn't an idiot. Underneath the feminine, fluttering persona he projected, Haruhi's father possessed a rather sharp mind, and eyes that saw far more than he typically let on. And right now, not only did he indeed notice the fact that his daughter was sagged against the wall for support, his narrowed eyes also took in her sweat-dampened face, which was still waxy white and creased with pain, and the protective hand she had braced against her stomach.

Without a word, Ranka shut the door behind him. His bright eyes, burning with an intelligence that he didn't often let others see, traveled past his daughter's shaky smile and landed on one of the boys standing behind her.

"Kyoya."

He said it softly, and almost without inflection. It wasn't a greeting, but a one-worded demand for information. And Kyoya just inclined his head and took a step forward.

"Of course," he replied.

"Hey," Haruhi objected, reaching out to snag Kyoya's sleeve as he moved past her. "What are you doing? Didn't I tell you all to get out?"

"Be quiet, Haruhi."

The simple command froze Haruhi in place. She could count on less than four fingers the number of times her father had used such a harsh and serious tone with her. Her hand aborted its movement mid-reach, and fell limply to her side.

"You've been wandering around this house like a ghost ever since you got home from school," Ranka continued. "I may act silly sometimes, but I have eyes, Haruhi. Your face is pale, and you've lost so much weight. You hardly eat, and every bite you do choke down you chase with a roll of antacids." Ranka's eyes softened, became sad. "I was trying to wait, to let you talk to me in your own time. But obviously, that isn't going to happen. So I'll get the answers from someone who trusts me enough to give them."

It hurt worse than a simple slap would have, and Haruhi could tell by the muffled gasps behind her that she wasn't the only one feeling the force of the verbal blow.

"Perhaps we should sit down," Kyoya suggested into the stunned and awkward silence that followed.

"Of course," Ranka said, tearing his eyes away from his daughter's staggered face. "Please, follow me."

Ranka led him to the living room. After a moment's pause, the rest of the group followed. Hikaru and Kaoru tried to catch Haruhi's wrists, intending to give her a little comfort and take away some of the hurt in those big brown eyes. But she shook their hands away.

The atmosphere inside the living room was tense. Everyone was on edge and sitting as stiff as mannequins. The only two people not staring straight at Haruhi were Kyoya and Ranka. And the only thing the object of everyone's attention was showing was the top of her shaggy brown head and the two hands she had fisted in her lap.

"Now," Ranka said. "Please explain."

"Certainly," Kyoya replied. "Haruhi's symptoms became apparent to us as well the night that we gathered at the coffee shop. She complained of a hunger-related stomach ache early in the evening, but then was unable to finish her food once it was brought. Shortly after eating, a sharp pain in her stomach forced her to retire from the table, and adjourn to the restroom, where it is my belief that she ingested several antacids. Upon returning to the table, she excused herself from our company and made her way home. After calling my physician, and confirming Haruhi's symptoms myself, I reached the conclusion that your daughter is suffering from a stomach ulcer."

Haruhi's hands tightened so hard that her knuckles went white.

"Stomach aches," she muttered defiantly. "All of this fuss over stomach aches. Ridiculous."

Kyoya's glasses flashed as he aimed a deceptively easy smile in Haruhi's direction.

"While I find your penchant for denial amusing under different circumstances, your health is one area where it cannot be tolerated," he said.

Haruhi's head snapped up, and confusion crowded around the anger in her eyes.

"What? Denial? What different circumstances?"

"Ranka, are you aware that your daughter obtained special permission from the dean of her university to exceed the maximum credit load?" Kyoya asked breezily, blowing right past Haruhi's baffled inquires. "Or that the majority of the classes she's taking are typically reserved for students in their senior year of college? Or that her internship with the law firm forces her to work as many hours as a full-time, paid employee? Or that she took a part-time tutoring job to help pay for school expenses?"

A look of co-mingled horror and guilt crossed Haruhi's face at Kyoya's final question. Ranka's eyes, already widened from the amount of information he'd received, popped to the size of dinner plates, and then narrowed.

"Pay?" he snarled dangerously.

There was a collective gasp of fear from the remaining male members of the Host Club as Ranka whirled on his daughter. The man's face, typically so pretty and deliberately feminine, had transformed into a truly demonic visage. The fire curling out of his ears, as well as the steam shooting from his nose, had Hunni burying his frightened face into Mori's side.

"Takashi, normal people shouldn't have fangs!" he wailed.

"No kidding," Hikaru and Kaoru agreed, clinging to each other and speaking through chattering teeth.

"Har-u-hi," Ranka hissed, separating each syllable deliberately. "You told me that the scholarships covered your tuition!"

Haruhi's resistance to her father's scary face was little better than the boys, even after all the years she'd spent confronting it.

"They do!" she stammered weakly. "But there's still housing, and books, and the meal plan that all freshman are required to have."

Ranka was on his feet and fuming before Haruhi even finished speaking.

"And of course you couldn't come to me! No, you've got to do everything yourself, and give yourself a nice little hole in the stomach because of it! Your adoring father WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!" Ranka reached down and clamped his hands on Haruhi's shoulders. "I've had enough of this. You are officially _grounded_, young lady! For the rest of your natural life! Once we get back from the hospital, you are going to your room, and you won't be leaving it again until you're at least fifty! Maybe at that age you'll finally be old enough for some sense to penetrate that thick skull of yours!"

After their ears absorbed the volume at which it had been delivered, the Host Club leapt to their feet as well, apparently to give Ranka a well-earned standing ovation. But Haruhi didn't shout right back, like they all expected. In fact, when she spoke, her voice barely rose above a whisper.

"Dad," she said, the quaver in her voice brought everyone up short. "I can't go. You know I…I can't."

Everyone blinked, confused and unnerved by Haruhi's sudden shift in behavior. She'd displayed a range of emotions during this ordeal, the majority of which were different flavors of anger and exasperation. But not once had her shields come completely down, never had they even cracked, until now.

Ranka made a soft sound of understanding. The hands on his daughter's shoulders relaxed, became soft sources of comfort instead of restraints.

"Oh, Haruhi," he murmured. "Still? After all this time?"

Haruhi ducked her head and hid her eyes.

"I don't get it," Kaoru said softly. "What just happened?"

Kyoya got to his feet as well, observing the scene before him with folded arms.

"Hospitals," he said. "Haruhi's mother was ill, and passed away in one."

The information zapped everyone like a lightning bolt.

"But she was never afraid before!" Hikaru said. "She was fine during the physical exams at school."

"He said hospitals, not doctors," Tamaki corrected quietly, his lavender eyes soft and sad. "A hospital is the place that Haruhi's mother never came home from."

"Your friends didn't know that you were afraid of thunderstorms at first, either," Ranka said to Haruhi, but gently now. "Just like I didn't know how much stress was piled on your shoulders up at school, or how sick you were making yourself because of it." He dropped down on the sofa next to his daughter, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Why won't you let anyone in, Haruhi? Even me; I can't get close to you."

Just a little, just enough, Haruhi leaned into her father's side.

"You're close, Dad," she said softly.

"But not your friends?" Ranka continued, with tender persistence. "You haven't made the effort to see them in so long, Haruhi. Whenever you come home from school, I ask you how they are, and you always say fine, or that you aren't sure. I know that they're important to you, no matter how much you've complained about them in the past. So, why won't you let them be there for you?"

Haruhi's shoulders hunched, a half-shrug.

"I can answer that," Tamaki said, taking a step forward. "It's my fault, isn't it, Haruhi?"

The boys surrounding Tamaki jerked back, confusion clear on their faces. Haruhi's head snapped up as well. But Tamaki's serene expression never faltered.

"I promised. That day in Okinawa, when I first found out that you're afraid of thunderstorms. I coaxed you out of the wardrobe, and I held you, and I promised that I'd always be there for you. And again, when you were sick, I held your hand and I told you that I'd never go away." Tamaki's eyes were drenched with some secret sadness, some sense of failure that he'd been hiding. "And then, after all that, I left you, didn't I? I broke my promise."

The earnest pain in Tamaki's voice disturbed Haruhi deeply.

"Sempai?"

"Please don't call me that," Tamaki whispered. "I haven't been your sempai for years. And for even longer than that, I've wanted to be something more to you than your elder class fellow."

Haruhi's breath caught, almost painfully, in her throat. Tamaki's hair had fallen over his face; she couldn't see his eyes anymore. So she searched for clues in the faces around her instead.

No one looked surprised. Other emotions abounded, but that one was nowhere to be found. The earth was all but rocking beneath Haruhi's feet, but apparently it was still stationary for everyone else.

He said he wanted to be more to her. Did that mean…did he want…

Dazed, Haruhi locked on to Kyoya's completely unfazed features. Was this what he had meant earlier about denial?

"Tamaki," she said, the name rolling awkwardly off her tongue without the attached honorary.

Tamaki's spine stiffened as if his name had been a lash across his shoulders, and then he looked up. His purple eyes were wide, and the feelings in them were too numerous to name. Fear, wonder, guilt, hope; they all were crowded there.

Haruhi's next words were interrupted by the sudden sound of running feet, and Kaoru's voice, calling his brother's name. The living room door slapped against the wall as it was shoved open, and the front door suffered the same fate a moment later.

"What?" Haruhi sputtered. "What just happened? What was that?"

"That was inevitability," Kyoya said, shoving up his glasses with a weary sigh. He turned his gaze to his best friend. "Tamaki."

Tamaki nodded.

"Right. I'll go after him." He stopped to look at Haruhi. "I'm sorry, Haruhi. I'll…be back. And I'll bring him with me."

And then the Host Club King was gone, again before Haruhi could utter a word.

"I don't get it!" she all but wailed. "What is going on?"

Hunni hugged his arms around himself, wishing he had Usa-chan to hold instead.

"Tama-chan finally admitted his feelings," he explained. "And now Hika-chan has to declare his too."

Hunni's words pierced Haruhi's mind, tumbling over and over. Her brown eyes widened, and her lips trembled apart. Him too? He'd been feeling this the entire time?

A thousand moments played before Haruhi's mind, moments that she had missed before, but seemed so obvious now.

How could she have missed it? Was she really so blind, to both of them? How could she have hurt them like this, for years, without realizing the damage she'd been causing?

"Hikaru," she whispered.

And something in her seized. A bolt of pain, shaper than what she'd become accustomed to, twisted her stomach mercilessly in its clawed fingers. Something scrabbled up her throat, and after a surprised cough, small bubbles of blood popped on Haruhi's lips and spattered across her hands.

"Oh," she murmured.

All at once, everyone was moving. Ranka had her off the couch and cradled in his arms in record time. Hunni ran for her shoes, while Mori dialed the hospital, and Kaoru hailed his driver.

Kyoya stayed by her side, speaking to her father in even tones.

"It's all right. It's just a side effect, brought about by advanced stress. It isn't serious, not yet, but we need to get her to a hospital, right away."

Cool fingers seized her wrist, settling against her pulse, and cool gray eyes locked on to hers.

"It appears you have a choice to make, Haruhi," he said quietly. "But I'm afraid it will have to wait until we save you first."

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

_A/N: Not to worry, everyone! I'd never kill our heroine so easily! Vomiting blood is one of the side effects of ulcers. It's serious, but trust me when I say that this is not a story about death, but about life and the lessons it brings. What happens now that Tamaki and Hikaru have finally owned up to their feelings? And how will Haruhi react, now that she knows? Stay tuned to find out. Happy reading!_


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: Happy Memorial Day, Everybody! This is the longest chapter yet...I hope you enjoy! Thanks once again to my absolutely amazing reviewers/readers. You guys have been so supportive, and so wonderful with your praise and attention. I adore each and every one of you!  
_

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori._

_This chapter is dedicated to every soldier, past and present, and from any nation, that ever fought for his or her country.  
_

**All the King's Horses, All the King's Men**

Hikaru ran. He didn't really have a destination in mind, but he couldn't stop his feet from pumping. He'd never been very good at dealing with strong emotions, and the ones currently swirling inside his gut were as powerful as a nuclear blast. He had to run them out, run them down, before the strength of that blast tore him to pieces.

She'd looked so sweet, and so startled. Her cheeks had flushed, and her brown eyes had gone wide, and her lips had parted into a soft moue of surprise.

Gritting his teeth, Hikaru ran faster, plowing through a crowd of teenage girls in middle school uniforms. They let out squawks of indignation, squawks that smoothed out to inexperienced purrs once they got a good look at his retreating form.

He'd known, of course. Everyone had. That big blonde idiot may have been oblivious to his own feelings, but to everyone else, what was really written across his heart was as clear as day. But that hadn't stopped Hikaru from hoping that the boss would remain in the dark, preferably forever.

Lungs tearing, Hikaru shoved aside a middle-aged man who exited a coffee shop and stepped right into his path of flight. The man let out a startled yelp, and as he dashed away, Hikaru just saw the man's beverage fall to the ground and explode.

"Hey!" the man shouted at Hikaru's retreating back.

It's not that Hikaru wanted to lock her away, exactly. Just put her in a box where no one else could touch her. That was different, right?

Head spinning, lungs straining, Hikaru's body finally forced him to a stop. Pressing his palm against his sweaty forehead, he surveyed his surroundings with mild surprise. Somehow, he'd ended up in a park, of sorts. Children screamed and squealed as they scaled a giant jungle gym. Tolerant mothers sat on benches, occasionally barking out orders. Behind the swing set, which had zero vacancies, the pit of sand and woodchips that the playthings were placed on stopped. A giant field opened occupied the open space, a huge sprawl of green that was dented in the middle by two downward slopes. Because he could just barely make out the sound of running water, Hikaru hypothesized that a river rested at the bottom of those hills. Hoping for a little privacy, Hikaru headed in that direction, threading through the various kite-flyers and picnic-eaters scattered throughout the field.

The mossy banks of the river were nearly empty. There was a little boy fishing with his father, but they were far enough down that it hardly mattered. Digging around in his pocket, Hikaru pulled out his music player. The sounds of the outside world disappeared as soon as he plugged his headphones in, and as long as he turned his back on the father-son duo, he could pretend he was alone here.

Hikaru tucked his hands in his pockets, and kicked a stray stone into the water. He wasn't a fan of change, even when it was for his own benefit. He'd die before admitting it, but the loss of contact with the Host Club had cut him deeply. Outside of Kaoru, they were the only real friends he'd ever had. They were his testimony, his proof that he was indeed capable of letting other people in, that he and Kaoru weren't destined to spend their lives alone. Hikaru wasn't stupid. He wanted that friendship, that sense of family, something he'd never seen outside of his brother, to go on forever. But in order for that to happen, a sort of innocence had to stay within the group; entanglements of a more adult nature had to be avoided. He'd never spoken of his softer intentions towards the female member, and he'd hoped for so long that the others would follow his lead. Sometimes he wondered if the pain of forcing his feelings down wasn't killing him by inches.

But wasn't it better to have her forever, even only as friend, than to lose her completely to someone else's arms?

Hikaru scrubbed a sullen and ultimately weary hand over his face.

A soft rap on his shoulder had him rolling his eyes. He assumed it was one of the many children running around the park, perhaps the one from just up the stream. But when he turned around, he found himself staring into a familiar and unexpected face instead. As Hikaru tensed in angry surprise, Tamaki tapped his own ear, reminding Hikaru that his headphones were still blocking out the sounds of the outside world.

"How did you find me?" he demanded, ripping the buds out of his ears.

Tamaki folded his arms.

"You left quite the trail of disgruntled people on the sidewalk," he replied, his voice ripe with easy humor. "You left a group of middle school girls giggling, and there's a man a little ways back who I imagine is still wiping up coffee and cursing your name."

Hikaru gave a bad-tempered shrug.

"Well, you found me. That's great. So now, why don't you go ahead and lose me again?"

Tamaki folded his arms. The small smile bowing his lips was soft, and small. His purple eyes were strangely gentle, and Hikaru gritted his teeth as he prepared himself for the Host Club King's apologies, and rambling explanations.

"You moron."

Shock gave Hikaru enough time to blink twice before his brain comprehended Tamaki's words. The blonde delivered the insult with such warm and weary affection, Hikaru had a hard time connecting the words to the tone. Once he linked them together, though, the anger he'd worked so hard to suppress began to beat a violent tattoo under his skin.

"Are you spoiling for a fight, Boss?" he snapped, golden eyes flashing. "Because, at the moment, I won't take much convincing."

Tamaki tilted his head.

"I didn't come here to fight you, Hikaru," he said.

"Then why did you follow me?" the redhead exploded.

"I was worried."

With something that could have been a laugh, if it lost its semi-hysterical edge, Hikaru reached up to tug at his hair.

"You can not be that oblivious," he said, almost to himself. "It is physically impossible for your brain to be that bent. How could you not understand that you are the _last_ person I want to see right now?"

"I know that. I followed you here _because_ I'm the last person you want to see."

Shock caused Hikaru to release his hair. He looked up into Tamaki's face, his confusion growing as he realized that that gentle smile still curved the blonde's lips.

"You know, I'm really not as oblivious as all of you might think," Tamaki added breezily. "I see a lot more than I let on."

Hikaru shook his head.

"But all through high school, you...,"

Tamaki's smile widened, just a little, and those violet eyes flashed with momentary humor.

"Really, Hikaru. The Host Club has been together for years now. Out of all of us, who do you think most understands the importance of role-playing?"

Blinking. It seemed to be all Hikaru was capable of contributing to this conversation.

"I created character types for all of you," Tamaki continued. "Why would I leave myself out?"

This was _not_ the conversation Hikaru had imagined he would be having right now. Although he did find himself a little fascinated, in spite of his anger, and his spinning head. Had Tamaki really been this shrewd all along?

"So, it was all an act?" he breathed. "Your 'Princely' persona?"

_Now_ Tamaki's brow furrowed. His smile creased into a small scowl, and he actually appeared…offended.

"Certainly not!" he said. "Remember that I created the Host Club character types by playing up the personality traits of its members. I simply took my God-given chivalry and charm, and broadened them a little."

And with that dramatic exclamation, Hikaru suddenly found himself back in a more familiar territory.

"You followed me all the way out here to discuss your system of characterization?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest.

Tamaki shook his head.

"I followed you because I am your King, and as such, I am responsible for you, and your feelings."

Hikaru resisted, just barely, the urge to roll his eyes.

"I think you're taking that metaphor a little too far, Tamaki-sempai."

"I'm not," Tamaki countered kindly. "I may be oblivious to some things; that is one of my personality traits that I worked into my character type, after all. But I wasn't kidding before when I said that I see more than I let on. The members of the Host Club are my responsibility; your feelings are of great importance to me." That smile was back, that gentle curve. "I _see_ _you_, Hikaru. I've been watching for years now."

Hikaru shrugged, despite the blush he could feel burning the back of his neck.

"So you know about my feelings," he said, struggling for nonchalant and failing miserably. "So what? I'm pretty sure that everyone does."

"I know more than that," Tamaki said. "I see your reasons, as well. I think that your greatest fear, other than losing your brother, of course, is the breaking of this family. And that fear paralyzes you from showing your true feelings; you fear that any action on your part will shatter this bond that we've formed."

If Hikaru's head hadn't started spinning before, it sure as hell was in orbit now. It was such a simple, straightforward, a_ccurate_ diagnosis of his most secret feelings. His flush had spread from his neck to his face, and he took an absent moment to curse his redhead complexion.

"You…can't know all of that," he spluttered, for a lack of anything better to say.

Tamaki just continued to stand, and continued to smile. It brought Hikaru's anger back like a silent scream.

"Fine," he snapped. "So you _see _me. That means that you were perfectly aware of my feelings when you blurted out your little love confession." Hikaru sneered, if only to counterbalance Tamaki's gentle smile. "Seems awfully selfish of a king who claims to be all about the feelings of his subjects."

Tamaki shook his head.

"You're angry right now, Hikaru, so I understand that you need to say such things. But you know me better."

There was zero recrimination in Tamaki's voice, and for whatever reason, it inspired more shame in Hikaru than an actual reprimand would have.

"I am sorry, for what it's worth. There was a time, not too long ago, that I completely agreed with your strategy of staying silent to stay together. I feared the breaking of our family as much as you did." Tamaki gave a quiet chuckle. "I'm sure you remember some of my more desperate attempts at maintaining my denial."

Images of Tamaki addressing each group member by a family title danced before Hikaru's eyes.

"I went through periods of conflicting emotions," the blonde continued. "Some days, the chivalrous knight in me insisted that I fight for my love. Other days, reminders of my kingly responsibilities would leave me determined to bow out of the running."

"You are not my king," Hikaru snapped.

Tamaki shrugged.

"Okay," he said easily. "But I'll always care for you, and feel the need to watch over you."

Hikaru wasn't sure if he should actually throw a punch, or sit on the grass and laugh like a loon.

"You would give up?" he asked instead.

"In a heartbeat, if I thought that that would make everyone happy," Tamaki said simply. "But I know you better than that, Hikaru. You're too intelligent for your own good. If I were to surrender, how long would it take you to start worrying that she picked you simply because she didn't have the option of me?"'

"Arrogant jackass," Hikaru snapped, although the heat in his voice was fading with every word out of Tamaki's mouth. The blonde really _did_ know him, didn't he? "You make it sound like you're sure she's going to choose you. What if she chooses me?"

Tamaki shrugged, and those violet eyes stayed serene.

"Then two of my dearest friends will have found love. How could I be anything but glad?"

For a moment, Hikaru could only stare. And then, laughter that he was helpless to control bubbled in his belly and rolled out of his mouth.

"Damn it," he said, his voice hitched with laughter and some sort of exasperated disgust. "Damn it, damn it, damn it. That's exactly why she's going to pick you, you know. You're so ridiculously loyal. And all you care about is everyone else." Golden eyes flashed, fixed on Tamaki's face. "You make it impossible for…anyone…to hate you. Boss."

Tamaki's smile warmed instinctively, even as his eyes widened.

"Wait, you think…,"

"I've got eyes, don't I?" Hikaru said. "All those years you spent watching me, watching all of us, I was watching her. And all she did was look at you." Hikaru scrubbed his hands over his face again. "God, we're just a bunch of idiots, aren't we?"

"Hikaru."

"Look, it hurts, all right?" he snapped. "But it's fine. I'll get over it. As…as long as she's happy, you know?"

"I don't know that you should give up just yet," Tamaki said softly. "Those qualities that you say further my chances of winning? You have them as well. In spades."

A smile bowed Hikaru's lips. It was small and shaky, and hardly there at all, but it was genuine.

"My greatest fear, huh?" he said softly. "That something would break us. Break our family."

Tamaki reached out a hand and rested it gently on the redhead's shoulder.

"Ridiculous, isn't it?" he said. "I doubt there's anything that _can_. What we have isn't so fragile."

He didn't leave his hand there for long, because while the smiles may have been genuine, the emotions they'd just rocked through were still very raw.

Hikaru was just opening his mouth to suggest that they head back, when Tamaki's phone went off. The blonde fished it out of his pocket, and then grinned at the name that it displayed.

"Kyoya!" he cried into the receiver, with great joy. "Were you worried about me? I bet you were! Never fear, for we have fixed…"

Tamaki's voice dripped off, like water slowly leaking from two cupped hands. Hikaru watched with confusion as those violet eyes hardened, and that soft smile flattened into a grim line.

"Where?" he asked, and all playfulness had disappeared from his voice. "All right. We'll be there shortly."

He snapped the phone shut.

"We have to go," he said to the bewildered redhead.

"Why?" Hikaru asked. "What's wrong?"

Tamaki's eyes flashed.

"It's Haruhi."

…...

"Are you sure they're okay?" Haruhi asked, for approximately the nineteenth time. "They're not fighting?"

Kyoya tapped the cell phone resting in his pocket. Because Haruhi currently had a doctor poking at her stomach, she had to crane her neck to see him.

"Tamaki said that everything was fine," he said. "And he sounded like the overly enthusiastic idiot he always is, so I'm inclined to believe him."

"Hello?" the doctor said dryly, as she prodded Haruhi's shirt-covered stomach with gentle fingers. "Remember me? Could we possibly focus on the hole in your stomach for just a moment?"

Straightening up, the doctor shot Kyoya an exasperated look.

"Remind me again why I'm not kicking any of you out?" she asked.

Kyoya smiled, and his glasses flashed as he nudged them up his nose.

"Because of our last names. Specifically mine."

And because, as soon as Haruhi had entered the doctor's office, her eyes had gone wide and glassy with fear. Her skin had gone as white as the hospital walls, and there was still blood on her lip for where she'd bitten it to nervous ribbons.

The boys had taken one look at her, and flat out refused to leave the room. So Haruhi's exam was conducted with Kyoya leaning against the doorframe, Kaoru hovering anxiously by the blood pressure machine, Hunni and Mori perched on the little sofa, and Ranka holding tight to his daughter's hand.

And for once, Haruhi hadn't said a word.

"It's definitely an ulcer, then?" Ranka asked, his face white with worry.

The doctor nodded.

"Normally, I'd run an Endoscopy to make sure."

Haruhi couldn't quite bite back the small hiss of fear, and Ranka gave her hand a calming pat.

"But," the doctor continued with a soothing smile, "Miss Fujioka's symptoms are so textbook perfect, that I don't think it's really necessary."

Her symptoms were perfect. The Ootori boy had also pulled her aside prior to the exam and explained the patient's deep-rooted fear of hospitals.

"Hear that, Haru-chan?" Hunni called cheerfully. "You even get perfect grades on your hospital tests!"

A nervous laugh whistled out of Haruhi's mouth.

"With a prescribed antibiotic, as well as a modulated diet and plenty of rest, your ulcer should clear right up," the doctor concluded.

"That's great!" Kaoru burst in. "Haruhi, isn't that great?"

The brunette nodded.

"I'll just go write up that prescription," the doctor said. "Mr. Fujioka, if you would accompany me? I have some paperwork for you to fill out, as well as some instructions on how to implement your daughter's recovery."

"Of course."

With a final squeeze of Haruhi's hand, Ranka followed the doctor out of the room. There was a beat of silence, before Kyoya spoke.

"You're awfully quiet, Haruhi. What is it that you're brooding about?"

Hunni jumped to his feet, his brown eyes big and anxious.

"Haru-chan, you're not still mad at us, are you?" he cried. "For telling you dad?"

Slowly, Haruhi shook her head.

"Why didn't anyone ever tell me?" she asked. "About Tamaki, and Hikaru."

"So you haven't been worrying about the now-confirmed hole in your stomach at all," Kyoya said dryly. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Someone should have told me," Haruhi said, rolling right over Kyoya's subdued sarcasm. "No one was surprised when everything blew up back at my house. Which means that everyone has known for a while. Everyone except me. Someone should have told me," she repeated softly. "I've been hurting them for years."

Once again, silence dominated the little room. Surprisingly, this time, Mori shattered it. He unfolded his tall body from his seat, and walked to Haruhi's side. One of Haruhi's eyes squinted shut as the warm weight of a large hand dropped down to rest on her hair.

"Their feelings weren't ours to share," he said quietly. "They trusted us with them. Just as we trusted them with ours."

Haruhi's breath caught. She watched as Kaoru nodded in easy agreement, and Kyoya suddenly became fixated on the black book in his hands.

"We know where we stand, Haruhi," Kaoru said with a quiet smile. "And we're all okay. Really. We just don't want you to worry."

"Yeah!" Hunni agreed cheerfully, and bounced to Haruhi's side. "Don't worry, Haru-chan! It doesn't hurt at all to love you!"

Haruhi stared at all of them, her tongue completely tied. And then the door to the exam room flew open, and Tamaki and Hikaru tumbled in. Judging by their flushed faces and heavy breathing, they'd navigated the hospital hallways at a dead run.

"Haruhi!" they panted, in perfect unison. "Are you all right?"

For a moment, she couldn't answer. Her eyes simply continued to travel from face, to face, to face. The expressions decorating them were different, but underneath all that, there was something similar on every single one.

Patience. And something warm, and ever-burning. For her.

Haruhi's breath hitched. Once. Twice.

And then the boys watched with wonder, and a shrieking sort of alarm, as her huge brown eyes filled with tears.

"I'm completely stupid," she whispered to their now flabbergasted faces. "You guys, I'm so sorry."

...

_A/N: Haruhi's finally out of the dark, and on the road to recovery. But will her new awareness help her juggle all of the hearts involved? Stay tuned to find out. Happy Reading!_


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N: I am back. And it is LONG. So have fun! We're getting to the end here, folks. Not that many chapters left. So thanks again to all of my amazing reviewers/readers. You guys mean great big bunches to me! _

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori._

**Balance**

Haruhi had a seven-person escort on her way home from the hospital. They'd all piled in to the Hitaachin limo to take her there, and no one was willing to leave her side, not after they'd seen her tears.

Despite the situation, Haruhi still had to fight back a smile as she looked around the luxurious car, looked at the boys who were trying quite desperately (and failing just as miserably) to resist the urge to hover around her like spaceships waiting to dock. Apparently, that was one thing that was never going to change; as much as Haruhi was considered a full-fledged member of the Host Club, the boys had made it abundantly clear that all female tears were equal in their eyes. Back in the hospital room, she'd only teared up a little, but it had still been enough to send the boys straight into some sort of panic. Hunni had wailed and clutched at her legs like he feared her dying at his feet. Mori had been silent as always, but his dark eyes had darted nervously, checking her for some sort of injury, something tangible he could fight and fix. Kyoya had crossed to stand at her side, offering a snow-white handkerchief with one hand while he clutched his cell phone with the other, inquiring in a deceptively calm voice if there was someone he should call, anyone, someone to take the hurt away. Kaoru had been the most confrontational, grabbing at her hands as he demanded to know what was wrong, and how to fix it. And Hikaru and Tamaki had stood completely still in the doorway, white-faced and horrified, as they both considered the possibility that their presence had brought about the sudden flood of tears.

Unfortunately for them, this loud bought of semi-hysteria had done nothing to quench Haruhi's weeping. In fact, it had only made it worse, because it just reinforced what she'd so suddenly realized, and yet should have known all along. She'd continued to cry, and they'd continued to run around like helpless idiots, until Ranka had returned with the doctor in tow. He'd taken one look at his daughter's watery eyes, and he'd pivoted on his discreetly stylish set of heels. Before Haruhi had time to blink, Tamaki had been pressed against the wall, and her father's face, morphed into that terrifying visage that she still hadn't learned the origin of, had been inches from Tamaki's own.

"What did you do to my darling daughter?" he'd snarled, and Tamaki had received major man points for managing to stifle his shriek of fear.

It had taken some fast-talking on Haruhi's part to convince her dad to put his scary face away. She really hadn't wanted Tamaki's violet eyes to be gouged out by luxurious nails painted almost the same shade. After she'd gotten everyone back into their respective corners, she'd accepted her prescription somewhat meekly from the pale-faced doctor. The poor woman had stared at the Host Club boys with an expression that suggested she no longer blamed Haruhi at all for her ulcer.

Now they were riding back to the Fujioka apartment in near-silence. Every male in the limousine was on edge; several slender hands fisted in the leather seats, and all seven sets of eyes locked anxiously on the brunette. But while Haruhi reassured them with small smiles, she didn't speak. Her brain was busy, bumping up into double overtime.

The silence wasn't shattered until the car slowed to a stop.

"I'll go make some tea for you, Haruhi," Ranka said softly. "And some nice soup for dinner. The doctor said only soft things for a while."

Haruhi nodded and smiled as her father eased his way out of the extravagant car. Haruhi hesitated before following, and turned to look at the six boys still occupying the interior. Several guilty side glances met her eyes, and she realized that they were afraid, even now, that her anger would send them all away again.

This knowledge did absolutely nothing to ease the tiny darts of guilt that had started shooting up and down her spine directly after the startling revelations of both Tamaki and Hikaru.

"I'd invite you guys inside," she said softly, "But I think my dad needs a little time to fuss."

Panic, and soft and sad acceptance. They _still_ thought she was pushing them away. After all she'd learned in the past day, the past few hours, could she blame them?

No. Not really.

Haruhi blew out a breath, ruffling her brown bangs.

"There's some stuff I'm going to need to say," she said, furrowing her brow a little. "But I need tonight to get the words together."

Tamaki inclined his head.

"Of course," he said, but his smile was strained. "You should be with your family right now, Haruhi."

"I know." Haruhi's gentle grin stretched a little. "That's why I want you guys to come back tomorrow." She blinked up at them. "Please?"

Six pairs of eyes blinked, and gradually widened, as the implications behind her words sunk in.

"Of course," Hikaru said, soft and a little hoarse, after a beat of silence. "Of course we'll come back."

"I know that," Haruhi said, as she slid over expensive leather to reach the door. "I do know that now."

The confusion that filled the car was soft, and strangely warm.

"Come around noon," Haruhi invited, her fingers loosely curled around the door handle. "I'll make lunch."

"You will _not_," Kyoya countered instantly, his voice flat and final. "I do believe I overheard the doctor forbidding strenuous activity."

Haruhi's scowl was brief, but it was there.

"Cooking is not strenuous," she muttered.

The mutinous tone in her voice was so familiar, more than one Host Club boy felt a dizzy spin of relief.

"We'll bring food," Kaoru interjected quickly, terrified of shattering the tentative peace that had sprung up.

For a moment, Haruhi looked like she might argue. But then she shrugged.

"Sounds great," she said, and if the cheer in her voice was a tiny bit forced, the boys chose to overlook it. "I'll see you then."

And then she slammed the door in their faces, and disappeared into her apartment building.

"I thought for sure Haru-chan would argue more than that," Hunni said nervously. "She never lets us bring food for her. Unless it's cake!"

Tamaki steepled his fingers together. His violet eyes were somewhat and strangely sad.

"Now she knows that we've cared for her all these years," he murmured. "And she's trying, already trying, to make sure that she doesn't hurt any worse she has."

"But she hasn't hurt us," Kaoru said, startled. "We told her so in the hospital."

Tamaki shook his head.

"Kaoru," he said gently. "Do you really think she sees it that way?"

….

That night, Haruhi retired to her room early, after choking down just enough food to keep her father happy. Assuming that she wanted to rest, he didn't question her desire to turn in. And because he didn't want to disturb what he presumed was a healing sleep, he didn't catch his daughter staying up far later than the doctor recommended, with a notebook balanced on her lap and a look of extreme focus on her face.

….

The doorbell to the Fujioka apartment rang at exactly noon the next day. A small sigh of collective relief went through the six boys on the other side once the door opened. Haruhi didn't look better, per se; she hadn't miraculously gained any weight over night, and her skin was so still so pale. But she did look a bit more rested, and she didn't look annoyed by their presence. That was certainly a step up from yesterday.

"Come in, you guys," she invited, pulling the door open to admit entry.

"We brought lunch, Haru-chan!" Hunni declared cheerfully, leaning against Mori's side so he could remove his shoes.

Haruhi eyed the multiple boxes piled in their hands, and a small smile quirked her lips.

"And then some," she agreed.

Her small smile blossomed into a reluctant laugh once the food was all unpacked and spread out on the table. Several kinds of soup were stacked besides a gigantic platter of mashed potatoes, and another plate of soft-baked breads. A massive bowl of plain white rice rested next to some sort of grain cereal. It would have been a very bland selection, but each boy had brought a different kind of fruit, and their exotic colors livened up the table.

"You guys still don't know how to do anything halfway, do you?" she asked, helpless amusement coloring her voice.

Hunni tugged anxiously on her arm.

"Is it all right, Haru-chan? We wanted to bring you fancy tuna, but Kyo-chan said it might upset your tummy. But I promise we'll bring some when you're better, 'kay?"

It took Haruhi a moment, but once she caught the memory, she laughed again.

"Will I ever live that down?" she demanded as they all settled around the table. "I only asked once!"

"True," Kyoya said, adjusting his glasses. "But you so seldom requested things from us. Perhaps if you asked more of us, a single incident wouldn't seem so relevant."

Haruhi made a face. There was more than one meaning in that double-edged comment, and everyone knew it.

"Haruhi, I'm off to work!" Ranka twirled into the room, on a wave of perfume and high-pitched giggles. "My goodness, what a spread! You boys certainly know how to take care of my darling daughter."

Tamaki puffed out his chest.

"Of course!"

Ranka's eyes, covered in incandescent pink eye shadow, narrowed to slits.

"I wasn't talking to you, lover boy."

It took Tamaki exactly three milliseconds to leave his chair and curl up in the corner of the room. The sight made Haruhi grin despite herself. She hadn't seen such a dramatic display in years. It should have been ridiculous, she should have rolled her eyes and ignored him. But the sight of the blonde king pressed against the wall, radiating waves of depression and despair, was strangely…comforting. Like a security blanket she hadn't known she was carrying around.

"So, you're off to work, Mr. Fujioka?" Kaoru asked politely, ignoring the blonde in the corner with practiced ease.

Ranka flipped his mane of luxurious red hair.

"Yes," he fluttered. "I'm scheduled to work the lunch shift at the bar." He made a sudden dash forward, an impressive sight on such skinny heels, and latched his arms around his daughter's neck. "I offered to call in, of course! Nothing is more important to me than taking care of my darling daughter! But Haruhi wouldn't hear of it."

"Ugh," Haruhi said, her voice muffled by her father's arms. "I'll be fine, Dad. It's just a few hours. And look, I have the Host Club to keep me company."

"Too true," Ranka said tearfully. "I'm so glad my little girl has such fine friends." The man gave a huge, watery sniff. "I know they'll protect you from any perverts that might barge in and pin you to the floor, only inches away from your mother's memorial."

Tamaki let out a sound a melon might make upon smashing against the ground.

"You're going to be late, Dad," Haruhi said, while the other boys stifled snorts of laughter. "I'll save you some food."

Ranka released his daughter after one more squeeze.

"How very kind of you, sweetheart," he said cheerfully, his tears disappeared like magic. "I'll see you in a few hours, then." Ranka turned, and sent the boys a roguish, finger-waggling wave over his shoulder. "Take care of my little girl for me!"

He swept out of the room as swiftly as he'd entered it. It took some serious coaxing, but Hunni finally convinced Tamaki to abandon his corner, and return to the table. Food was passed, and following Haruhi's lead, conversation was kept light and quick throughout the meal. The boys teased and laughed and ate like they weren't all waiting in nervous anticipation for Haruhi's inevitable speech.

_There's some stuff I need to say. But I need tonight to get the words together._

The mass anxiety became a pit of greasy, coiling snakes in each boy's gut, and they all eyed Hunni's gift of dessert with some trepidation. But Haruhi put a piece of strawberry cake on her plate, and so they all followed suit without a word of complaint.

"Give me a minute," Haruhi said, getting to her feet. "I'll make some tea."

All at once, the boys were on their feet as well.

"No!" they shouted, in perfect unison.

Haruhi blinked.

"I mean, let me," Kaoru said with a weak smile. "Nothing strenuous, remember?"

Haruhi's brow furrowed, much like it had the day before when Kyoya negated her offer to make lunch.

"It's just tea," she said.

"Yeah," Kaoru agreed, already sidling out of the room. "But I don't think that explanation will work on your dad."

Everyone laughed nervously. They sat in semi-awkward silence until Kaoru returned, carrying a cup-laden tray. Haruhi pressed the warm porcelain between her palms, and took a deep breath. She noticed that the moment she did, everyone looked her way, instantly wary.

"I need to talk to you guys," she said. "But I guess you know that already."

The boys settled back in to the table, their expressions grim. Haruhi reached under the table, and pulled out a green notebook. It had been resting there all day, in preparation for this.

"What is that?" Kaoru blurted.

A slow, stretching smirk of amusement covered Kyoya's face.

"Did you take notes, Haruhi?" he asked mildly.

Haruhi tossed a narrow-eyed glare in his direction.

"Shut up," she suggested. "I did a lot of thinking last night, and the memories I went back to find are very specific, so I wrote them down."

"Memories?" Hunni repeated, his little face scrunched with confusion.

Tamaki was confused as well, but he couldn't prevent his soft smile at the neatness of it. This whole affair had started with memories. Apparently, it would end with them as well.

Haruhi gave an embarrassed and uncomfortable squirm.

"It occurred to me last night that I haven't been exactly…fair to you guys," she said. "You've all cared about me for so long, and you've done a million things to show it. But I didn't see them at the time, and I never really returned the sentiment."

"Haruhi," Kaoru said uneasily. "We told you last night that we were fine."

Haruhi shut him up with a patient glare.

"Still," she said stubbornly. "You guys are my friends. I should be able to tell you how much you matter. Because you do." Faint color stained her white cheeks. "Of course, you do."

No one had anything to say to that. It was more than she'd ever offered them, in all of their years as friends.

Haruhi cleared her throat, and tapped a finger against the notebook pages.

"I've…cared about you guys for a long time," she said, and her blush was heavier now, warming her face beautifully. "Almost as long as you guys have cared about me. But I never showed it. So, last night, I went back and I picked out the six moments when I realized that I wanted to stay, to keep you all as friends."

Six faces stared back at her, all of them white with shock. She might have laughed, if she wasn't feeling so sick with embarrassment.

"I guess…I'll read them to you guys," she said. She turned to the oldest Host Club member. "Hunni-sempai."

….

_Haruhi had been an official Host for exactly three days, four hours, and fifteen minutes. She still wasn't sure how it had happened; her memories of those first few hours, first served as an errand boy, and then as a participating member, were sort of dazed and cloudy. She remembered a lot of giggling (not all of it from the female customers), and a lot of male voices rolling right over any protests she might have had._

_ She also remembered, with startling clarity, the rather impressive range of emotions her newfound king had displayed in such a short amount of time._

_ Haruhi sighed, hooking her bag over her shoulder and instinctively returning the wave of one of her brand new clients. She shuffled down the hallway to her first class, her brow furrowing as she remembered that the twins would be there. She wouldn't have minded under different circumstances, they were actually sort of nice, but they insisted on hanging on her whenever she was around. _

_ "Haru-chan!"_

_ Haruhi turned, along with every other student in the hallway, at the ear-splitting cry. Torn between being amused, and being angry, Haruhi shifted her weight uneasily as the oldest Host Club member came skipping in her direction, his tall shadow at his back, as always._

_ "Hunni-sempai," she greeted warily, once the boy stopped in front of her. "Did you need something?"_

_ Hunni bounced on his toes, his brown eyes bright._

_ "Nope!" he said with a smile. "I just wanted to say good morning! Promise to share some cake with me later, 'kay?"_

_ Haruhi twisted the strap of her bag between her fingers. _

_ "Ah, listen," she said uneasily. "You don't have to do this. You know, pretend in public. I know I'm only in the club to pay back my debt."_

_ Hunni's smile died as his face scrunched in honest confusion._

_ "What?"_

_ "I mean, I'm a commoner," Haruhi said quickly. "You don't have to talk to me if it hurts your reputation, or whatever."_

_ The confusion vanished off of Hunni's face. For a moment, anger replaced it, a rage so cold and so out of sorts with such a soft face, Haruhi actually staggered back a step._

_ Then it was gone, like a bad dream, and Hunni was offering her another sweet smile._

_ "You're not a commoner," he said simply. "You're Haru-chan." _

…_._

Haruhi turned away from the softly smiling Hunni, and faced the younger of the redheaded twins.

"Karou."

….

_Even though the twins possessed a great deal of intelligence, it was rare to catch them actually doing anything inside a classroom, other than lounging and indulging in some casual flirting, of course. So Haruhi almost missed a step upon entering the classroom and coming face to face with the sight of Kaoru scribbling diligently in an open notebook._

_ "Hey," she said, dropping her bag on the desk next to his. "What are you up to?"_

_ Kaoru blinked up at her, his golden eyes blurry and blank as he pulled himself out of whatever words he'd been wrapped in._

_ "Wrapping up a story for English class," he said, his words slow and somewhat thick. "Hikaru and I were busy last night, and I didn't have a chance to finish it."_

_ "I didn't know that you like to write," Haruhi said, as she slid into her seat. "What's the story about?"_

_Kaoru shrugged and scrubbed his hands over his face, obviously still trying to struggle free of the world he'd been caught in._

_ "Two knights," he said from behind his hands. "As close as brothers. One knight falls in love with a princess, but she's trapped in a castle, guarded by a dragon."_

_ "Of course," Haruhi said, propping her chin on her hand. _

_ Kaoru smiled behind his palms._

_ "Of course," he agreed. "The knight can't beat the dragon on his own, so he asks the other knight for help." Kaoru dropped his hands, and his golden eyes were soft and distant. "But the other knight knows that if he fights, he'll lose his friend once the princess is free. For good."_

_ It sounded simple. Like the textbook definition of a fairytale. Except that it really wasn't. _

_ "So what happens in the end?" Haruhi asked quietly. "Does the knight help his friend?"_

_ Kaoru glanced to where his brother was playing out their before-class flirting routine alone._

_ "Of course," he said, with a tiny smile. "Because the knight always knew, way deep down, that he'd lose his friend eventually. And his friend was so precious to him, that he'd vowed a long time ago to fight for his friend's happiness, even if it meant losing his own."_

…_._

Kaoru blushed, and smiled a little when Hikaru's hand snuck into his under the table. Haruhi tilted her head, and then turned her attention to the older brother. He'd barely said two words to her all day, and his golden eyes hadn't locked on to her face for more than five seconds at a time.

"Hikaru," she said, and there was the tiniest hesitation in her voice.

….

_"You're always playing that game," Haruhi observed, taking a break from studying to stretch her arms._

_ Hikaru looked up. The Host Club wasn't entertaining that afternoon, but somehow all of the members had ended up there anyway. Tamaki was in the back, coaxing soft melodies from the piano keys. Kyoya was settled at a table, and tapping away at his computer, his expression almost serene. Hunni and Mori were playing some sort of card game, and judging by Hunni's giggles and Mori's straight-faced look of pain, the blonde was kicking his best friend's butt. Kaoru was sprawled belly-down on an available sofa, his notebook open in his hands and his eyes dreamy and distant as he sucked absently on his pen cap. Hikaru was sitting at the same table as Haruhi, his golden eyes sharp with focus as his fingers flew furiously over the game system in his hands. _

_ Haruhi, for her part, had been looking for a quiet place to study. She'd been searching for the same thing on the day that she'd been press-ganged into becoming a member of the Host Club. Ironically, because of that, she had a place now; she just had to sacrifice a little bit of her meager free time, and most of her sanity to utilize it._

_ "Huh?" Hikaru said, his fingers pausing as he processed Haruhi's words. _

_ "That game," Haruhi repeated. "You're always playing it."_

_ For a moment, Hikaru seemed almost confused._

_ "Oh," he said finally. "Yeah. It's one of those big quest games. Kaoru and I take turns playing. We switch off every time we beat a level."_

_ Haruhi couldn't stop her smile. The brotherly bond that was buried underneath the twins' weird behavior was hard to find sometimes. But every time she saw it, she was reminded of just how sweet it was. _

_ "That's nice," she said. "Is it fun?"_

_ Hikaru looked up, into her warm eyes and open smile. He flushed so hard and so fast, he briefly feared that his head would explode._

_ "Yeah," he said, and he was helpless to prevent his voice from going rough. "You, ah, you can try it out. If you want."_

_ Startled, Haruhi tilted her head. Was he offering to share something with her, something that had always belonged exclusively to him and his brother?_

_ Hikaru held out the game console, still blushing furiously. Haruhi looked at it, and then at the books spread out in front of her._

_ She'd studied enough for one day._

_ "Sure," she said, taking the bit of plastic from his hands. "Sounds great."_

…_._

Hikaru's smile was soft, and it was sad. It was a nice memory, and it made him feel warm inside. But it didn't bode well for deeper feelings.

"Kyoya-sempai," Haruhi said quickly, turning to the older boy.

….

_It took Haruhi a while to realize it. By the time she puzzled it out, she'd been a full-fledged Host Club member for about three months. But once she pieced it together, she wondered how she'd missed it for so long._

_ "Hey, Kyoya-sempai," she said, sidling up to him during a particularly slow afternoon of Hosting._

_ "Yes," Kyoya said, without taking his fingers off the computer keys._

_ Haruhi scrubbed an uneasy hand over her hair. It had taken her approximately thirty seconds to glean exactly who held the power in this little club._

_ "Whatever happened to that girl?" she asked hesitantly. "Tamaki's old customer, the one I met on my first day of Hosting."_

_ Kyoya fumbled. It wasn't for more than a second; the whole movement was more of a twitch, really. But with his ever-smooth appearance, it may as well have been a full-on face plant._

_ "You mean the one who threw your bag in the pond, and tried to frame you for sexual harassment?" Kyoya asked mildly, his fingers moving again with practiced grace, as if they'd never faltered in the first place. _

_ "Yeah. I haven't seen her around."_

_ "You wouldn't," Kyoya said. "I had a small chat with the Headmaster. She doesn't attend Ouran Academy anymore."_

_ Haruhi's jaw dropped so low, it nearly scraped the ridiculously expensive shoes the boys had provided her with._

_ "What?" she breathed. "You got her kicked out?"_

_ Kyoya made a small sound that might have been amusement, might have been irritation._

_ "Haruhi, really," he said. "Do you actually think I have that kind of influence? I merely brought my concerns regarding the girl to the person in charge, and then offered my solution to the problem." Kyoya spared her a brief glance. "He quite agreed with me. Ouran has a long-standing reputation to live up to, after all."_

_ Haruhi could only blink, completely flabbergasted. It was so…extreme. Damn these rich people, and the ridiculous world they lived in._

_ "Why?" she finally remembered to ask. _

_ Kyoya sighed, and the look he shot her was definitely irritation this time._

_ "Whatever the circumstances of your membership may be, they don't lessen the fact that you are, indeed, a member of this club," he said. "That makes you ours. Slights against our own are not to be tolerated, under any circumstances."_

_ He turned back to his computer without another word, leaving Haruhi floundering at his back._

…_._

Kyoya smiled a little at the memory, and gave his glasses a careless nudge. Haruhi returned the smile, still a bit nervously, and turned to her next target.

"Mori-sempai."

….

_Haruhi had a pounding headache. She didn't get them often, but sometimes the combination of late-night studying and a full day of strenuous academic activity made the condition impossible to avoid. She made it through the day with gritted teeth, waving the twins away the moment she entered the classroom in the morning. She could have wept at the explosion of sound that greeted her when she dragged her aching body to the third Music Room for Host Club duties. Apparently, the twins, having been denied access to Haruhi by Haruhi herself, had spent their sudden free time sending out mass text messages to the rest of the Host Club. Text messages that served to blow Haruhi's condition completely out of proportion._

_ "Haruhi! Are you all right? Oh, tell Daddy that you're not wasting away from some horrible disease!"_

_ "You look like absolute crap."_

_ "Is this sudden illness going to interfere with your Host Club duties? Let me know, so that I can update your debt balance."_

_ "Haru-chan, you look really sick! Do you want to hold Usa-chan?"_

_ Haruhi wondered if it was physically possible for her head to just blast off her shoulders, and bounce against the floor like a basketball. She pressed her fingers against her forehead, and struggled to remind herself that they were really just trying to help._

_ Suddenly, strong fingers locked around her wrist and started to drag her away. There were several loud protests that had Haruhi's eyes crossing, the sound of a door being opened and shut, and then blessed silence. Haruhi blinked up at her savior._

_ "Mori-sempai?" she said, wincing at the sound of her own voice._

_ The taller boy's hand dropped down to her head for a brief moment, rubbing her hair in a soothing caress. And then he leaned back against the door, preventing anyone else from entering the room._

_ Haruhi closed her eyes._

_ "Thank you."_

…

Mori inclined his head, his face inscrutable as always, but his eyes warm. Swallowing hard, Haruhi turned to the final member of the group.

"Tamaki," she said, still stumbling over his name without the honorary.

She started to speak, but incredibly, the blonde held up a long-fingered hand, effectively silencing her.

"No, Haruhi," he said, his voice strangely gentle and sad. "That's enough. What you've already shared today is beautiful, and precious. But I can see in your eyes that you fear hurting me the most. So, why don't we stop here?" The blonde king smiled a little. "I don't need a memory to reaffirm our friendship. I've always believed that the bond was there all along."

Haruhi looked down at her notes. She tapped her fingers against the pages for a moment as she mulled over Tamaki's words. And then she looked up, and returned his smile.

"And here I thought I was stupid," she said sweetly. "But now I see that you've got me beat." She shook her head. "You really are an idiot, Tamaki."

...

_A/N: What's up now? Why doesn't Tamaki want Haruhi's memory? And now that Haruhi has finally admitted that she's always cared for the boys, is she brave enough to explore the next level of deeper feeling? Stay tuned to find out. Happy Reading!_


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N: This is me, doing the dance of shame that I made you guys wait almost a month for this upload. In my defense, I was trying to stretch it, to make it fit two chapters somehow. But I couldn't. This is it; after this, there will be an epilogue, and then the story will be over. I think a part of my delay was made up of complete denial over this fact. As always, my heartfelt gratitude and never-ending affection goes out to my faithful readers and reviewers. You all have been so amazingly wonderful, and I treasure each and every one of you. _

_Just a quick note; there will be some random lines in italics towards the end of this chapter. These are actual lines pulled from this story; I dropped them in as hints while I was writing them, and I brought them back now to tie everything together.  
_

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori. _

**Promises and Permanence**

"And here I thought I was stupid. But now I see that you've got me beat." She shook her head. "You really are an idiot, Tamaki."

The Host Club King shifted uneasily in his seat. Haruhi's smile was open and bright, but her words were sugared candy pumped with poison.

"You don't need a memory to reaffirm our friendship?" Haruhi continued, in that same venomously sweet voice. "What a load of crap. This whole memory business started with you. Now you're too afraid to finish it out?"

"Um…" Panic, panic. She'd shot from shy to livid in less than sixteen seconds, and he was still floundering.

Haruhi folded her hands neatly on top of her notebook.

"And besides," she said, "You claim that I'm afraid of hurting you." Her smile shifted to a toothy grin. "But when has that ever been true?"

Oh. Oh, crap. He'd pissed her off. And not even into a clean rage; a little yelling he could handle. No, he'd provoked her right past yelling, and pushed her into her 'You are being so incredibly idiotic that I shall very sweetly shove reason down your throat until you beg for mercy' attitude. It was actually very similar to Kyoya's super polite obliteration attack, and just as deadly. But Tamaki had only seen it a number of times, and so his defensive maneuvers weren't particularly prepared.

"Ah…," he shifted again, trying to find a response that wouldn't spell out his immediate doom. Finally, he settled on; "I'm not stupid."

"Lies," Kyoya countered instantly. Tamaki shot him a soft glare, but his friend never bothered to look up from his notebook.

"I'm going to have to go with Kyoya-sempai on this one," Hikaru agreed. "You're a total idiot, Boss."

Tamaki flinched a little as that golden gaze drilled into his forehead like an ice pick. Apparently, Haruhi wasn't the only angry one. Hikaru's eyes were hot, and his mouth was pressed into a firm line. And Tamaki didn't need a translator to pick up on the elder twin's silent communication.

_How are we supposed to know how she really feels if you won't let her say it? You want to settle this? Let her share the stupid memory._

Tamaki blinked, and then stared down at his own long-fingered hands. A part of him was desperate to hear Haruhi's words, to finally gain some tangible proof that he meant something, anything at all. But he was just as afraid that she would offer him nothing more than simple friendship, and he worried that he might choke on it. He was torn in two, half of him pathetically eager to grasp at any bond she might toss his way, the other half terrified that it wouldn't be enough.

Maybe she should have chosen Hikaru. There had been nothing more than friendship in her memory for him, and he'd accepted it with barely a wince. Ironic, that the Host Club King, who was known for his manners, should suddenly find himself losing a battle of grace to _Hikaru_.

But…this was _Haruhi_. Tamaki's hands curled into loose fists. He'd spent so many moments making sure that everyone else was okay, that he hadn't really taken any time to process things himself. Wasn't he allowed just one moment of weakness? To falter just a little, right before the finish line.

When Tamaki glanced up, perhaps to voice this opinion, six sets of eyes pinned him to his seat, all calling him different variations of the word 'moron'.

Oh. Apparently he wasn't.

"Very well, then," he conceded gracefully, hiding his panic behind his typical charming smile. "Pardon the interruption, Haruhi. Please continue."

She rolled her eyes at him. He always fell back on his manners when he was imploding inside. Well, when there wasn't a convenient corner to occupy.

"I have a friend, back at the University. A boy."

Tamaki gave serious consideration to banging his head against the table.

Repeatedly.

…

_"Mr. Oshiro. Ms. Fujioka. It's fifteen past eleven."_

_ The librarian, a sharp stick of a woman with faded black hair pulled back into no-nonsense bun, almost smiled as two sets of eyes blinked at her, glazed and glassy and obviously completely unaware of what she'd just said. _

_ The boy, a highly intelligent young man with scholarly sort of attractiveness, pushed ink-stained fingers through his black hair and offered the compelling argument of; "Huh?"_

_ The librarian managed, just barely, to keep her eyes firm and business-like. It would never do for a student to see her snicker. _

_ "It's a quarter past," she repeated. "Please gather your materials. We don't need either of you falling asleep in here again."_

_ The boy laughed, a little sheepishly. Now that she'd succeeded in pulling his head out of the book he'd been reading, his black eyes were starting to brighten with that snapping intelligence._

_ "Okay, Mrs. Michi. Thanks for the reminder."_

_ The librarian huffed to cover a smile, and stormed away. Haruhi gave her weary eyes a rub, encouraging them to focus on things other than tiny text._

_ "The library doesn't close until midnight," she pointed out. "She said it was only fifteen past eleven, right Naoki?"_

_ The boy, Naoki, shrugged and stretched, reaching his long arms high over his head._

_ "Right," he said. "I think that was more of a preemptive strike. She doesn't want to have shake either of us awake again."_

_ "Oh." Haruhi processed that information, and then decided that she had at least fifteen minutes before Mrs. Michi launched her second attack. "Hand me Fujiwara's 'Theories of Criminal Defense'."_

_ Naoki found the leather-bound tome buried at the bottom of the pile and shoved it into Haruhi's waiting hands. The girl's eyes were already distant and somehow direct as her brain began to spin itself back into study mode. Naoki laughed a little._

_ "Don't you ever stop?" _

_ "Do you?" Haruhi shot back as she flipped open the front cover. _

_ "I might. Given the right incentive."_

_ Haruhi trailed a busy finger down the book's index, searching for the required subject matter._

_ "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, but somewhat absently, because her mind was already starting to drift into arguments and evidence and opening statements. _

_ "I mean that you might be able to distract me by making our study dates something a little more official."_

_ Every intelligent thought in Haruhi's head screeched to sudden halt by smacking cheerfully against her skull. The highly gifted young law student, who'd been accepted into a prestigious university on a full scholarship and who was admired by both her professors and her fellow students, suddenly found herself incapable of anything more articulate than a garbled string of sounds._

_ "Ah…um…huh?"_

_ Naoki's dark eyes glittered with amusement._

_ "Wow," he said. "I'll keep that technique in mind the next time you're ripping me apart in debate."_

_ Haruhi pressed a sweaty palm to her temple. Her head was still reeling from its sudden screaming shift from activity to total silence. _

_ "Naoki," she said, struggling for coherency. "Did you just ask me out on a date?"_

_ "Yep. You don't do subtle very well, Fujioka. I've been dropping hints practically since day one, but you haven't picked up on any of them." Naoki's smile widened, became a grin. "So I thought I'd try the direct approach."_

_ Haruhi continued her unabashed gaping for another minute or so, before she let out a low groan, and introduced her forehead to the tabletop. _

_ "How?" she wailed into the mountain of text she'd just slammed her face into. "How does this keep happening to me?"_

_ She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and peeked up at Naoki from her barricade of books. _

_ "I'm sorry," she said. "Naoki, you know I don't really feel…that way…about you."_

_ Haruhi had always believed in saying things straight out. But that didn't mean she had to look into his eyes as she said it. So she waited until she was done, and then risked a glance at her companion's face._

_ Naoki's eyes were completely calm, and filled with good humor. _

_ "Come on, Fujioka," he said, his grin softening into a smile. "I'm a smart guy. Aspiring lawyer, remember? You think I couldn't see that from the beginning?"_

_ Haruhi hated the blush that worked its way across her cheeks, brought about by a combination of embarrassment and guilt._

_ "So, you're not upset?" she ventured._

_ Naoki shrugged._

_ "Wasn't really expecting you to say yes," he said serenely. "I knew it was a long shot. Just thought I'd get it out there, so I didn't regret it in my old age or something."_

_ Haruhi took a deep breath, but fumbled anyway. Why was it so much easier to see the solution when she wasn't knee-deep in the situation itself?_

_ "I'm sorry," she said again, for lack of anything better._

_ "It's pretty amazing, actually. You're so smart in class, and so intuitive about everyone else's feelings. But when those feelings pertain to you, you're absolutely clueless."_

_ "I am clueless," Haruhi agreed, mumbling forlornly into the musky pages of her Practical Law textbook. "How do I not pick up on this stuff?"_

_ Naoki's grin stretched, became positively gleeful. He reached across the table and gave Haruhi's shoulder a poke. _

_ "So there's someone else you've been ignoring," he summarized._

_ Haruhi's face flushed even brighter._

_ "I wasn't ignoring you!"_

_ Naoki held up a hand._

_ "The verdict for that trial has already been delivered, and your sentence will be decided upon in due time," he said, his voice filled with just enough fun to let Haruhi know that he was teasing. "The evidence now being examined pertains to a completely different case. Are you admitting to being a repeat offender of this crime of obliviousness?"_

_ "Naoki-"_

_ "Let me lay out the facts, Fujioka, and then you can plead your side. Exhibit A: overly affectionate behavior coupled with odd jealousy in the presence of other males?"_

_ "Naoki-"_

_ "Exhibit B: the strange habit of always showing up at your side, and staying there for as long as conceivably possible?"_

_ "Hey-"_

_ "Exhibit C: a suspicious flush brought about by softer, more intimate moments?"_

_ "Okay, seriously, knock it off-"_

_ "Exhibit D: pet names?" Naoki shook his head sadly. "My, my Fujioka, are you really that dense? How does a person miss pet names?"_

_ "He calls me his daughter! That's not a normal pet name, is it?"_

_ There was a heartbeat of silence as Haruhi processed what she'd just said. Then, her mouth flopped open like a landed fish._

_ "So, there is someone," Naoki said, leaning back in his chair with a satisfied smile. "And a very specific someone, from the sound of it." He gave the table a thoughtful tap. "I guess I'm glad, Fujioka. I'd rather that there was an actual reason for why I can't have you."_

_ Haruhi barely heard him. She wanted to care about his feelings, really she did, but her brain had leaped again, from stunned silence into absolute chaos. If she'd been red before, she was all but glowing now, and underneath her flush, her face was properly horrified._

_ "No way," she whispered. "That can't be right."_

_ She looked up, into Naoki's patient eyes._

_ "Can it?"_

…_._

Huh. So it was possible to influence the environment with only your emotions. The temperature had been steadily dropping from the very beginning of Haruhi's story, and by now she wouldn't be surprised if her leftover soup had frozen itself to the bowl. The waves of displeasure radiating around the room were powerfully frigid, and made even stronger by the fact that they were coming from six different people.

"So," Kyoya purred, and Haruhi winced. He sounded pleasant, polite, and just a little bit homicidal. "Yet another boy has been chasing after you."

"Ah…"

"Is he your boyfriend, Haru-chan?" Hunni asked. "Is that why you ignored us for so long?"

Oh, bad. Bad, bad, bad. Hunni speaking in such a serious tone boded well for no one.

"No, he's not my boyfriend!" she cried, hating that her voice was mildly hysterical. "Weren't you guys listening?"

"Yes," Mori's voice, deep with displeasure. "You said that he was teasing you."

Haruhi gaped. The normally stoic boy was actually scowling.

"Didn't anyone ever teach him that you're not supposed to make fun of girls?" Hikaru asked, his voice positively lethal.

Kaoru gave a vehement nod of agreement.

"What did you say his full name was?" Kyoya asked pleasantly, flipping open his black book.

Uh-oh. Serious danger ahead. Determined to cut it off before somebody (namely Naoki) got slaughtered, Haruhi slapped a hand over Kyoya's notebook, preventing his pen from meeting the blank page.

"You guys completely missed the point of that memory," she insisted, a bit desperately. "It wasn't about Naoki at all. It was about Tamaki!"

"Naoki," Kyoya murmured, writing busily around Haruhi's hand.

Haruhi gave Kyoya an exasperated glare and gave in, removing her hand from his notebook.

"Haruhi," Tamaki said, a bit hesitantly. "I wasn't really _in_ that memory."

"But you were," she countered, turning to face Tamaki's purple eyes, which were soft with confusion. "Don't you get it? You were the first person I thought of, even two years later. Last night, I tried to pick a specific memory with you in it, to go along with everyone else. But I couldn't, because you're _always on my mind_."

_ Even back in high school, her mind blanked every time Tamaki turned gentleman on her._

_ But what did that make the rest of them? Because they all followed him in the end. How did he take such ridiculous passion and twist it into some kind of leadership?_

_ You guys kidnapped me all the time back then. Especially you, Tamaki-sempai._

_ She could never say no to those eyes, and he knew it._

_ Only Tamaki, and his boundless enthusiasm, could throw colors on a canvas like this, and somehow call it art._

_ You practice that look in the mirror, don't you? Fine. Give me the stupid costume._

_ He was the answer to her question. He always was._

"I know I may be oblivious to stuff like that sometimes," Haruhi was blushing now, just a little, but bright enough to make her look beautiful. "But Naoki made me realize just _how_ clueless I'd actually been. About myself, and about you."

Haruhi wasn't the only one blushing. If Tamaki's face got any redder, he was going to have an aneurism on the spot.

"But…but you seemed so surprised," he spluttered. "Two days ago, when I told you."

"Understanding internally and actually hearing it out loud are completely different things," Haruhi said, a bit defensively. "I don't think I was ready for it."

"And…and now?"

Kyoya cleared his throat.

"Perhaps this is a conversation for just the two of you," he suggested.

Haruhi glanced away from Tamaki's flabbergasted face. She took in the other five faces still gathered around her, and flushed even harder.

"No," she said, despite her burning cheeks. "Please, stay." She rubbed an awkward hand across her neck. "This was never just about the two of us. We're…we're a family first. If I'm going to do something that shifts the group a little, then you all deserve to be here for it."

The boys shared a stunned look. They weren't sure what shocked them more; Haruhi actually asking them to stay, or finally calling them a family, and thereby giving them some sort of permanence in her life.

"I'm not asking you to stay to be cruel," Haruhi continued, darting a quick and pleading glance in Hikaru's direction. "It's just that there's been a choice hanging over my head for so long. You've all cared about me since the beginning, and so you've more than earned the right to hear my decision."

Tamaki's words were very, very cautious, like he was speaking while trying to keep water cupped in his hands.

"And what is your decision?"

Haruhi turned to him, and looked him straight in the eye. She was still blushing, quite profusely by this point, but it didn't change the fact that she'd always been direct.

"Well. I guess it's always been you." She gave a tiny smile. "Idiot."

Tamaki's violet eyes went almost blank for a moment. And then they warmed, became impossibly bright. With a shaky sigh of relief, he reached for her, but only a little, because this was still Haruhi, and she was still prickly by nature.

Hikaru took a very careful breath. Oh, it hurt. It really, really hurt. But, then again, he'd been hovering in anticipation for so long, that the actual pain was almost a relief. Still, that was cold comfort, and it didn't make the damage any less. He'd probably go away for a while after this, fall out of contact for a little bit. He needed time to heal.

Hikaru noticed Karou's concerned expression, and slipped a hand into his under the table. "Family first," he whispered, while giving his brother a reassuring squeeze.

But he'd come back. Always.

Because they were.

Haruhi allowed Tamaki to wrap his fingers around hers. His palm was warm against hers, and a part of her wanted to press it to her cheek, where it had rested during her nasty battle with the flu all those years ago. She met Mori's eyes, took in Hunni's wide grin, concluded that they knew exactly what she was considering, and briefly wondered if her face was just going to explode from all the blood rushing to it.

"You know, if Tamaki really never left my head," she said, giving Tamaki's fingers a light squeeze and studiously ignoring the fact that Kyoya was recording every word out of her mouth. "Then I guess you never did break your promise." She gave the table a soft, sort of hesitant smile. "You guys never really left me after all."

...

_A/N: At the end of the journey, the only place left to go...is home. Just one chapter left; a quick epilogue to bring everything together. Hopefully I'll have it posted by later this week. So, for the final time...stay tuned. Happy Reading!_


	17. Chapter 17

_A/N: We made it, folks. Welcome to the end. Make sure you scroll all the way to the end for my special surprise for all my loyal readers! On that note, let me take a moment to thank each and every one of you for all the support. You guys truly made writing this story a wonderful, amazing, completely fun experience. I have deep love for each of you, and I'd like to think that through this story, we've formed a little family of our own. Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything. Without you, this story would be nothing but a writer's fleeting fancy. Keep reading, keep reviewing, and stay exactly the way you are; I'm convinced you guys are more wonderful than at least half the world's population._

_I do not own Ouran High School Host Club; it belongs to Bisco Hatori.  
_

**Epilogue:**

**Forever Family**

Even after two years, the coffee shop had hardly changed. The curtains were new, as were most of the waitresses, but the tables were the same, scarred and stained by numerous cups resting on their wooden faces.

Seated in the corner, and nursing a single cup of straight black coffee, a good-looking young man scribbled busily in his black notebook. Every now and again, he would glance towards the door, push up his glasses, and then refocus his attention on his writing. Many of the waitresses sighed over his handsome face, and giggled over the completely cool way he'd ordered his coffee. They debated breezing by his table, coffee pot in hand, in the hopes that he would ask them to freshen his cup. But there was something about that attractive face that held them back; some aloofness that suggested he held himself apart from everyone else.

"He isn't here for romance," one of the older waitresses said with a wise nod. "He's the constant, the watch guard. He's holding down the fort." She gave her ample bosom an idle pat. "But I don't think he's the center of whatever group he's waiting for. His type never is. He's just the one that always watches."

Kyoya knew what the waitresses were saying about him, of course. If he would have cared enough to respond to their hypothesis, he would have agreed wholeheartedly with their diagnosis. He did indeed prefer the shadows; it was the only place where you could move so much more and still keep it hidden.

"Kyo-chan! Kyo-chan!"

Kyoya looked up, and had just enough time to heave a resigned sigh, before Hunni, still short and sweet after all this time, but with a face that was starting to suggest his age, launched himself against his side. Kyoya endured the hug in long-suffering silence, and correctly interpreted the sympathetic smile in Mori's eyes over Hunni's slender shoulder. The other boy had finally stopped getting taller, but he was still filling out width-wise. He was starting to resemble one of those American football players.

"Mori," he greeted, rising to meet him after Hunni finally detached himself. He was greatly relieved when Mori seemed satisfied by a manly handshake.

They sat, but barely had time to order Mori's tea.

"Hey guys!" two voices spoke in perfect unison, as always.

Except for Hunni, who couldn't be stopped, there were no hugs this time. Hikaru and Kaoru really weren't comfortable showing affection to anyone but each other, but beaming smiles were offered by both twins as they took their seats. They were finally starting to dress differently; it was much easier to tell them apart, even though all of the Host Club members had finally figured it out a long time ago. Kaoru was dressed against the winter wind in a long peacoat and patterned scarf, while Hikaru preferred a stylishly scarred leather jacket. He didn't have a scarf, but his black turtleneck protected his skin just the same.

"They're late," Hikaru said, popping his elbows on the table. It wasn't a question.

Kyoya's eyebrow curved in a smooth, extremely amused arch.

"Really, Hikaru. After all this time, were you expecting anything else?"

The redhead gave a small laugh, and shook his head.

"I guess it was wishful thinking that one of them might rein in the other," he said ruefully.

"Some things never change," Kaoru said, slipping his hand into his brother's just to prove that indeed, some things never did.

They waited ten minutes before the door burst open, and a red-faced Haruhi scrambled in, her cheeks chapped from the cold. Tamaki pranced along at her heels, radiating so much energy that he was practically carrying his own atmosphere.

"Sorry we're late," Haruhi said, shooting an annoyed glare in the blonde's direction.

Haruhi's dark look appeared to have zero effect on Tamaki's sunny mood. In fact, his grin only widened upon seeing it.

"Yes, my apologies! Haruhi simply couldn't decide what to wear."

Haruhi, who still preferred simple sweaters and jeans, untwisted her frozen fingers from her boyfriend's hand, and used her suddenly free arm to jab him in the stomach instead.

"Whatever," she snapped as he wheezed. "It takes me ten minutes to get ready. I've gotten _lost_ in your closet before."

"Only once!" Tamaki protested, as Haruhi turned away to greet the others. "And I rescued you without delay!"

Haruhi rolled her eyes. Unlike Hunni (and Tamaki) who _administered_ hugs to every member, Haruhi was the only one to be _given_ hugs by all the boys.

"I came with you," she pointed out, as she shook herself free of Tamaki's arms. "You didn't have to hug me."

Tamaki just grinned and passed her to the next boy.

"I saw you guys three weeks ago," she muttered as Mori popped her off her feet.

"Stop complaining," Hikaru and Kaoru suggested, as they each chose a side and sandwiched her into an embrace.

Haruhi allowed it for a moment, before shoving them away. They settled at the table, and ordered coffee all around.

Once the waitresses got past the stunning beauty of the five men occupying their shop, they started to notice that what they secretly hoped was a traveling harem (preferably one out for hire) was actually more like a family. The little mannerisms, probably unconscious ones to them, shouted out their mutual affection for all the world to see. The way that the little blonde leaned into the tall one's side, or reached out during an excited diatribe to latch onto the girl's hands. The way that the two redheads kept in constant contact. The way that the tall one bumped his shoulder against the cool one's in a silent show of solidarity. The way that the overexcited blonde reached out the clap the leather-clad redhead on the shoulder, and the way the redhead returned his smile with warm hesitance. The way that the shorter blonde laughed uproariously at something the taller blonde said, and then gave him a slap on the back that nearly sent him face-first into the table. The way that the one in glasses gave the redhead in the scarf a fond and faintly evil smirk before scribbling something in his book. The way that the dramatic blonde hooked an arm around the cool boy's neck, and the way the cool boy's eyes shone in spite of his annoyed scowl.

The way that the girl reached out to each of them in turn, and gifted them each a smile that brightened the room around them.

"Hey guys, remember when-"

"Are we doing this again?" Haruhi asked, cutting across Kaoru's question.

"Yes, haven't we exhausted this by now?" Kyoya added, raising his eyebrows in polite interest.

"Well, this one is fairly new," Kaoru protested. He leaned forward with a huge smile. "Remember Haruhi's totally stupid stomach ulcer?"

Haruhi's face flamed.

"Come on!" she sputtered. "That was two years ago!"

"Kaoru," Hikaru said, shoving a playful elbow into his brother's side. "You can't call your family members stupid."

Haruhi blinked away the barest vestiges of guilt and surprise, and smiled at Hikaru instead. Rather than blush, as he would have once upon a time, Hikaru returned her wide grin. Tamaki caught the interaction and heaved a smile of his own, although his was smaller, and filled with contentment.

"Kyo-chan calls Tama-chan an idiot all the time," Hunni pointed out.

Kyoya snickered quietly into his coffee cup.

"Pick a different memory," Haruhi said, scowling in Kaoru's direction. "That one shouldn't be important."

"Yes, it should."

Haruhi jumped at Mori's voice, and then turned an incredulous face in his direction.

"It is important," he continued quietly. "It brought us back together."

Haruhi's brown eyes went wide, and warm. Tamaki smiled at the older boy, and squeezed the fingers laced so comfortably in his.

"Very astute, Mori-sempai," he said softly, his voice absent its usual drama. "Indeed, it did. And it kept us together."

"Because nothing can break us," Hikaru said firmly, and he and Tamaki shared a quiet look.

"Of course," Tamaki agreed. He raised his coffee cup and held it out. "To our family."

"To our family!" Hunni echoed cheerfully, raising his cup right away.

"To our family," Mori rumbled, following Hunni, as always.

"To our family," Hikaru and Kaoru chorused, squeezing hands under the table.

"To our family," Kyoya said, quietly enough that it almost went unheard.

Haruhi rolled her eyes because it was expected, but she couldn't stop the lump from forming in her throat.

"To our family," she finished, cursing herself for the faint blush that rose in her cheeks.

They clinked their cups together. They shared a quiet moment of acknowledgement, and warm looks passed around the table. And then a still flustered Haruhi turned to Tamaki.

"Corny," she declared.

Her boyfriend grinned, and caught her chin in his long fingers. He planted a soft kiss on her lips, stretching it out just long enough to leave her brown eyes blurry when they pulled apart.

"Love you," he whispered.

Haruhi rolled her eyes again, but her lips curved with pleasure.

"Hey!" Hunni chimed in, his giant eyes filled with a wicked kind of mischief. "Remember when Tama-chan tried to kiss Haru-chan for the first time in public, and she punched him over the head?"

The table erupted in hearty laughter and embarrassed squawking. The sound echoed around the restaurant, unconsciously brightening the moods of the other patrons. It whispered around the doors, curling briefly against the warmed glass panes, and then stole its way out, to be carried away by the snowflakes dancing on the frigid air outside.

...

_A/N: And so it ends. My apologies if you found the ending too sticky sweet...I'm (mostly) a big believer in happy endings. Are you ready for your surprise?_

_..._

_..._

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_Are you sure?_

_..._

_..._

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_Okay, here it is!_

_**Coming Soon-**_

_**Remember When 2: Ties That Bind**_

_It won't be nearly as long as the first, but I realized that there's a little bit more story to be told, and I couldn't think of a better gift to give the fans of this story than a continuation of it. If I've held your interest, make sure you watch for updates starting in August. So stay tuned, and Happy Reading!**  
**_


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